The Wicked Sisters, A Hogwarts AU
by itsirmster
Summary: Sarah, Helena, Alison and Cosima are sisters that attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, time frame being the 21st century. This fic's events take place in their fifth year. More characters appear as the story progresses.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's note: After great success of this crossover on tumblr, I have decided to publish it on here as well. Hope you enjoy!**_

Sarah's eyes opened as something heavy fell on her, almost kicking all of the air from her lungs.

"Wha- Helena, get off!" Sarah grumbled, pulling the covers over her head as she tried to shake off her twin. Even after five years of sharing the room with Helena, Sarah was still not used to being woken up like this every now and then.

"Sestra!" Helena squealed happily, tugging the covers Sarah used to pull over her head and throwing them aside. "Sestra, get up! We will be late for breakfast! I don't want to be late for breakfast! Think about bacon and eggs!"

Still grumbling and complaining under her breath, fifteen-year-old Sarah Manning sat up in the bed, shuffling her bushy hair out of her face and scratching her head as she looked outside the window. The sky was pale blue and Hogwarts grounds seemed deserted, even though the temperature had fairly dropped even though it was only the beginning of September. Helena had already jumped out of her bed and had dressed in her robes, her scarlet-and-gold tie hanging loosely around her neck.

"Sestra, can you tie this? I want to look pretty on the first day." Helena was grinning widely as she approached Sarah who was tying her boots and looked up, the frown on her face only slightly apparent as her fingers fumbled with Helena's tie until it was properly set.

"You know you don't need to wear full robes every day Helena, yeah?" Her twin nodded, even though she didn't really seem to pay any attention. Even though they were already in their fifth year in Hogwarts, Helena still seemed happy that she was attending Hogwarts with her sisters. Sarah could still remember the Sorting ceremony several years back, and how excited Helena had gotten to be in the Gryffindor house with her twin, even though their other sisters were not in the same House. Separated at birth, Helena and Sarah, together with Cosima and Alison met only several months after they both got their Hogwarts letters. Mrs S told Sarah something about Helena being supposed to go to Durmstrang, but choosing Hogwarts instead since she was told that her sisters were going there.

Even though Helena had been very attached to Sarah from the moment they met, Sarah had grown used to having her around. And even though Helena had an awful habit of waking Sarah up for breakfast almost every morning, Sarah could still not help but smile when Helena put on her hat, causing her curls to fly in every single direction.

Sarah pulled her own dark robe over her plaid shirt and took the books she would need after the breakfast. Two hours of Defence Against the Dark Arts was the class Sarah was looking forward to, and Potions and Transfiguration after lunch as well. She had already prepared herself for Alison showing up at their table that morning to kindly remind them that this year was their O.W.L.s year, and that they needed to study more _for their better future._Control freak.

Once they made their way down the staircase and into the Gryffindor Common room, Sarah scoffed at Paul Dierden, the boy from sixth year, and the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team who always acted like a complete arsehole and always seemed to have a comment or two about Sarah whenever they met in the hallways. _Hey Manning, need help with those books?_ was the first one that morning and she just rolled her eyes before stepping out from behind the portrait, Helena closely behind her.

"Sestra, I can give him a curse of bogies, or something, yes?" Helena whispered in her ear, grinning widely as they walked down the endless staircase. "No, Helena, it's fine. I'll handle him, yeah?" She smiled lightly at her twin before they stepped in the Great Hall.

It was still fairly early, but she could already see Cosima leaned over a huge book while sitting at her Ravenclaw table. She was stressing out because of the O.W.L.s as well, but not in an obnoxious way as Alison did. She looked up from it as Helena called her name and smiled widely, picking up her books and coming to join them at a fairly deserted Gryffindor table, her books causing their glasses of juice to almost fall down when she dropped them.

"Shit, sorry." Cosima murmured apologetically as she sat down, fixing her glasses and taking a slice of toast with butter and taking a bite of it absentmindedly. "I've been studying Astronomy since last night, and I don't think I'll ever figure it all out in time."

Sarah looked at her over her plate, her eyebrows furrowing. "Cos. It's the first bloody day. You can relax a little bit, yeah?"

Cosima shrugged, taking another bite. "I guess you're right. How did you sleep last night? These things on my head are still poking me sometimes, but I hope I'll get used to them soon. I can't risk many sleepless nights this year."

Sarah looked at Cosima's dreadlocks and smirked. "They look good. And you won't be mistaken for any of us anymore. Must have been very painful making them, yeah?"

Her sister nodded. "You wouldn't even believe. My foster mom needed to hold my hand the whole time. I'm still pretty sure I could have used magic to make them, but you know, the whole illegal prospect of using magic outside of Hogwarts killed me, so I had to do it the hard way. Besides, the tattoos were totally more painful. And I look rad now." Cosima grinned widely, before her eyes traveled to Helena. "And you, Helena? You excited for O.W.L.s?"

The curly-haired sister shrugged. "Sarah will help with studying. I just want to go and pet unicorns. I heard they will be here this year at Care of Magical Creatures."

"Helena wanted to dye her hair blonde this year. I told her to at least wait until we're seventeen." Sarah interjected, laughing as she took a sip of the pumpkin juice. "She's pale as it is, she'd look like a bloody ghost if she did it."

"I like ghosts." Helena said with a shrug, burping loudly as she finished her over-filled plate and grabbed the nearest bowl of pudding and attacking it, causing Cosima to look at her and laugh out loud.

"Yeah, Helena and Nearly-Headless-Nick have become best friends last year after she tried to stab him as he accidentally poked his head through her plate." Sarah said, looking over at Helena and pushing her own pudding bowl towards Helena, knowing in advance that her sister would ask about it, anyway.

The two of them laughed as Helena finished the two bowls and stood up to look for more, but they both stopped abruptly as they heard a familiar voice behind them. Sarah cringed at the tone and she looked to the side, her smirk hiding the fact that she wanted to curse their fourth sibling away from the table.

Alison was standing beside their table, her hand leaned on the chair. Her hair was picked up in a ponytail with the silver-and-green bow which matched perfectly with the badge with a P on it, which was hooked on the front of her robe and which Alison carried proudly around. "I see that you're already studying for your O.W.L.s Cosima, very good. Sarah, you should look up to the two of us, since Helena is looking up to you, and actually give yourself a chance to pass these tests with _acceptable _grades. I myself already made notes for everything, and made a schedule by which I'm going to study every day of the week, yes including Sundays, and-"

"If you don't stop going on about yourself", Sarah cut her off, frowning now, "I am going to smack you over the head, I swear to Merlin."

Alison huffed and pursed her lips, but did not continue talking, but just sat beside Cosima, placing her own books beside herself and brushed her robe a little bit before leaning forward to the table to look over at her Ravenclaw twin. "Where is your Prefect badge, Cosima? You should wear it at all times so that first-years can come to you so you can help them."

Sarah couldn't help but roll her eyes but kept her eyes at her plate, refraining herself from snarky comments. She would need to have fresh mind for the classes later, and fighting with Alison only brought unnecessary stress upon her.

Cosima moved her robe a little bit to the side and showed the blue-and-bronze badge that was hooked on her tie. "Chill, Ali, I got it all covered." Cosima smiled over at her uptight sibling before finishing off her toast and taking a gulp of her pumpkin juice. "Where's Donnie? I'm kinda used to him hanging around you since last year."

Alison huffed once again and shrugged. "I broke up with him. I can't have a boyfriend in the year of O.W.L.s, are you insane? He takes too much of my time so I let him go. He's probably crying in the boys' bathroom. I couldn't care less, really. What?" Her eyes snapped towards Sarah who was chuckling, but looking at the ceiling who was as pale and cloudless as the sky outside.

"Oh nothing." Sarah said, grinning before looking down at her plate and finishing her breakfast. She always found Donnie a spineless Slytherin brat who always bragged about his parents' money and how he had an older brother in Chudley Canons. She ignored Alison's stare, but instead looked over at Cosima who leaned in closer to them.

"Oh hey, speaking of, I totally have a secret to tell you. I think I have a new crush." At those words, Alison's eyes lit up. She always had a thing for gossip, and even Sarah leaned closer on the table. Cosima _never _had any crushes, and occasionally had relationships with her books, or at least that's how Sarah saw her undying love of books. "Please don't tell me it's this year's Potions book." She commented with a smirk, causing her sister to roll her eyes.

"Ha-ha, Sarah. No. D'you remember that Beauxbatons exchange student Headmistress McGonagall was talking about last night?" At the positive answers from both Alison and Sarah, Cosima continued, her voice hushed and excited. "Well her name is Delphine and I just met her this morning. She's totally gorgeous and incredibly smart, and she'll be staying at the Ravenclaw tower. I'm not really sure how they'll figure all this out, but Delphine's technically a fifth year here and if she likes it she might actually stay." A wide grin spread across her lips as her cheeks flushed a little bit. "And she has the most adorable accent ever and shares my passion for Potions. Can you believe it? I can't wait for you to meet her."

Sarah leaned back in her seat, smirking at the piece of information she had just gotten. "Looks like Cos here has found her distraction for this year, yeah?" She flinched a bit when Cosima hit her with her foot under the table. "Bloody hell, Cos, alright, sorry." Sarah continued smirking though, even though Alison was shaking her head.

"The choice is completely yours, Cosima, but I don't think it's smart to get involved with her when you should be studying."

"Who said that we won't be studying? We totally dorked out to Potions and Transfiguration, and she told me their classes a bit different in France, and that she'd be grateful if I filled her in. She's a fifth year too, so we'll be studying together. Totally."

Sarah made air quotes and mouthed _studying, _at which she got another kick under the table. "Alright, alright. Sorry. Well I have DADA right now and I don't want to miss it, so I'll catch you lot at lunch, yeah?" Both Cosima and Alison nodded and Sarah stood up, beckoning Helena who was leaned on the table, rubbing her stomach before standing up and clung onto Sarah's arm, while she picked up Sarah's and her own books. "I carry this for you, sestra, yes? See you later, other sestras!" Helena chirped happily, and Sarah turned around and made a step before remembering something.

She turned around once again. "Oh I wanted to ask you both if you are going to Hogsmeade for Halloween this year? Helena wants to go to Honeydukes and I hear that Shrieking Shack will be insanely decorated this year."

Cosima nodded. "Yes, of course! I have to visit the Shrieking Shack, duh, and buy some stuff that I forgot at Diagon Alley."

At Alison's grimace, Sarah nudged her. "Oh come on, Alison, even you can get a break from the studying. We can have a little bit of fun, all four of us, yeah? And scare the living shite out of Donnie and Paul. Besides, it's two months away. You have plenty of time to study." Alison rolled her eyes and looked at Sarah scoldingly, but finally nodded. "Alright. I'll go. But only if we're back to the castle by the evening."

"Of course", Cosima said, grinning widely, taking her own books and standing up. "You know we never miss Halloween dinners." As all of them agreed that they would talk more about the matter over lunch, Sarah and Helena took off for classes, while Cosima and Alison returned to their tables. It was going to be a fun year.


	2. Chapter 2

The month of October was slowly coming to an end, and the tops of trees of the Forbidden Forest had taken a beautiful golden and red colour, indicating that the end of the autumn was approaching fast. The weather still remained sunny, even though there was a slight chill to the morning air.

The students were filing out the Great Hall after breakfast, and some of them were eagerly heading out to spend their free hours basking in the sunlight by the lake. Others were not as lucky, and were already climbing the staircase, heading for their classes within the castle.

The fifth year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were scheduled for the Potions class, and most of them looked longingly at the opaque sky through the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall before they were forced to make their way to the dungeons, among them being Sarah, Helena and Cosima.

-"Cos, what's going on? " Sarah looked over at her sister who was unusually quiet, clutching her books protectively against her chest, her eyes not moving from the floor, her lips pursed tightly. Helena was not paying attention, but was indulging in the small cup of jello she snatched from the kitchens. Somehow she found a way and the entrance to the place where the house-elves were, and they adored her for appreciating their food, and she loved them since they always gave her endless amounts.

-"Nothing… nothing." Cosima murmured, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, but the skeptic look on Sarah's face let her know that she was not really buying it. "Really, Sarah, leave it be."

-"All right." Sarah rolled her eyes and let the two of her sisters to go in the classroom before her. She was glad that Alison was not there with them, because her talk about Donnie and the O.W.L.s was getting tiring, and she could not afford being stressed. By the looks of it, she was so far behind on every single subject, and she needed to pick up her studying pace. Shrugging away her thoughts, she looked at Helena who leaned back in her chair as the three of them sat around one cauldron. At least Cosima was the one who aced Potions, and being in class together with her was a blessing.

-"You being like this doesn't, by any chance, have to do anything with a certain exchange student, yeah?" Sarah could not help but bark at her and Cosima stopped taking out the ingredients midway for a couple of seconds, before she continued. She threw them in the cauldron rather moodily, and finally huffed when she saw Sarah staring at her with an inquiring smirk and raised eyebrows.

-"You're impossible, Sarah." Cosima finally breathed out, and leaned towards her as to not be overheard. "Yeah, it's about Delphine. She was asked out by that obnoxious seventh year Slytherin kid Aldous before I could get some balls and ask her out myself. And some girls asked her about it last night in the Ravenclaw tower, and I had to listen to where they went and how he bought her flowers. I hate him." Cosima waved her hands as she spoke, nearly knocking over her brass scale at the last exclamation and catching it just in time.

-"That's because you're taking too much of your bloody time drooling over her instead of acting upon it, Cos. You should just ask her to spend a day with you, today. You have the rest of the day free, yeah? Just have lunch by the lake or something. Do something romantic, she's bloody French. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Yeah?" Sarah took out her wand and placed it by the cauldron before checking the list of the ingredients she needed. "Helena, go get bat spleens from the cupboard, please."

Helena stood up at once, nodding. "Yes, sestra." She was glad to stand up and stretch her legs some more. The talk about the French student did not interest her and she loved looking at all kinds of ingredients in the cupboard. Helena loved seeing all kinds of animals dissected and floating around in tanks, and she loved to touch the gooey stuff. Her eyes lit up at the sight, and Helena took her time while Sarah and Cosima talked. She could feel her stomach cramping from too much food she had that morning, but did not mind it at all. In fact, she thought about lunch already and wondered what kind of goodies she would get from the house-elves this time. Grabbing the bat spleens from the bottom shelf, Helena examined it before returning to the table and sitting down. She pulled her own copy of Potions out and flipped over it, not paying attention to the conversation.

-"But I'm not sure she even likes girls, Sarah. I don't know, I just get all nervous around her. Oh shit." Her eyes dropped to the floor as Delphine walked in. Sarah waved at her and Delphine waved back, then took a glance at Cosima who did not meet her gaze. Instead she was blushing profusely and pretended to look over the list of ingredients one more time. The blonde's gaze lingered at her for a couple of seconds, then upon seeing that Cosima did not even notice her, she sighed and turned her back as she sat by the cauldron with two other Ravenclaw girls, several tables away from the sisters.

-"You screwed it up again, Cos. Why didn't you bloody greet her? I could kick your arse right now." Sarah barked under her voice, and Cosima just shook her head.

-"Sarah, please, leave me alone."

-"No. I can't bloody look at you sulking like that, yeah? You're going to ask her out, or at least for a walk, or I will tell her what you think about her myself. I'm not even bloody joking."

Cosima pursed her lips as she looked over at Sarah, and then over at Delphine's back. If she had not known better, she would have thought that Delphine was nothing short of a Veela. Then again, no one else seemed enchanted by her the way Cosima was, so that theory flew right out of the window. She remembered Delphine's smile and the way her eyes lit up when they talked about different classes. The way they dorked out to things Cosima could never talk about with her sisters or any of her friends made her grin widely in the darkness before she fell asleep every night. Delphine was perfect, and yet she was mortified of thinking to make a move on her. Cosima had no idea how to date, as her only loves were her books, and interacting with another human being in that way, or flirting, she couldn't wrap her mind around it. She had no idea what to do. And Sarah glaring at her did not help.

-"Okay, fine. But you better call Madam Pomfrey, because if I faint it will be your fault." She finally snapped and looked over at her sister who responded with a wide grin on her face.

-"Brilliant." Sarah replied, turning to the professor and took down notes before they started brewing the potion. Helena stirred it as it boiled, and Cosima looked over it, occasionally stealing glances towards Delphine who seemed concentrated on her own potion.

Towards the end of the class, the professor walked among the tables and gave the highest scores to Delphine and two other Ravenclaws, as well as Cosima, Sarah and Helena. Helena grinned widely as she threw her things into the bags and high-fived Sarah who nudged Cosima just a second before that. Cosima, on the other hand, did not pay too much attention to either of them, and she could feel her stomach flaring up with nervousness as she glanced over at the blonde once more. This time they gazes did meet and Delphine smiled at her.

Those damn butterflies.

-"Go." Sarah nudged her sister once again as she flung her bag over her shoulder and took Helena's hand, dragging her out of the dungeons. "Let's get a snack and take a walk and visit Hagrid, yeah? I heard he has something cool for the next Care of Magical creatures." Helena nodded excitedly and followed her sister, saying goodbye to Cosima who did not hear her.

The Ravenclaw girls who were sat with Delphine left the dungeon too, giving Cosima fleeting courage to approach Delphine with her books once again clutched tightly on her chest.

"Hey." She said, ducking her head and smiling somewhat shyly as she stepped closer to her.

Delphine looked from her bag in which she was putting back all of the ingredients she did not used, and smiled widely again, her eyes lighting up a little. "Bonjour, Cosima! Congratulations on the points."

Cosima's smile widened. "Thanks, you too! But that's nothing new, you're always good at potions."

Delphine tilted her head to the side, and nodded. "Yes. And you are too." She paused, looking around. There was no one left in the classroom. "I did not see you this morning in the common room."

The brunette hoped to Merlin that the burning in her cheeks was not too obvious in the dim light of the dungeons.

"Yeah, no, I was in the library. Studying for O.W.L.s and all that. I love studying before the classes, while my mind is fresh."

Delphine nodded. "Yes. Me too. But I slept in this morning, I have the whole afternoon for studying, you know?"

Cosima clutched her books on her chest once again and looked down. _Shit. _"Yeah, yeah. I don't have any classes either. Obvs. But I thought to make a break before lunch and take a walk on the grounds, around the lake. To relax a little bit."

Delphine flung her bag over her shoulder and nodded. She could notice the slight red color in Cosima's cheeks, and she wondered what that was all about, and hoped that she was not making her uncomfortable. Speaking to Cosima was always fun for Delphine, and she could listen to her talking for hours. Sadly enough, they never spent too much time together during the day, since they were both studying and doing other things.

"Yes. That sounds like a good idea." Delphine said, wondering if she should offer herself to tag along. Then again, Cosima was always surrounded by people, and maybe she wanted some time for herself, so the blonde kept silent. Maybe Aldous was serious about that lunch thing, so she would not be all by herself that day.

_I hate you so much, Sarah._ Cosima grumbled inside her mind, but knew that she would be stupid if she missed this opportunity. Nobody was around. Even if Delphine said no, no one would know. That way Cosima could go about and drown in her embarrassment without anyone witnessing it. Horrorstruck, the brunette saw that Delphine was getting ready to walk away.

"Hey, Delphine?" She could feel a lump in her throat. _Now or never, Cosima._

"Oui?" Delphine looked from the door and then back at the brunette, giving her a slightly inquiring look with her eyebrows raised, the expression that made the Ravenclaw weak in her knees.

"Do you want, like, take a walk with me? We can… um, go over some of the notes from today's lesson or uh… just chill? Maybe, until lunch at least?" Her throat was completely dry, and she had no idea what she had just said. It could have all been gibberish for all she remembered.

The seconds passed like eons.

-"Mais bien sûr! That sounds wonderful." Delphine replied, smiling widely.

-"Okay. Awesome." Cosima murmured breathlessly, feeling her palms suddenly sweating. She gripped the books tighter, afraid that they might slip her hands and fall on the floor, which would make her look like a complete dork.

_But Delphine already knows you're a dork. She called it cute the other day._

They made their way out of the dungeons together, and within several minutes they had sunlight hurting their eyes a little bit after spending a full hour in the dungeons. They strolled across the grass, heading towards the lake, and many of students were lounging all around the place, but Cosima paid no mind to any of them. Her eyes were glued to Delphine, who was just explaining the way she worked on her Astronomy homework. Even if she talked about her lunch, she sounded incredibly interesting to Cosima.

As the Ravenclaw's mind got lost in the blonde curls that were basking in the sunlight, Delphine stopped talking, and looked at Cosima with her eyebrows raised, and brunette realized that she must have asked her a question.

-"Uh, sorry… what?" She choked, slapping herself mentally.

-"I asked if you finished your Charms homework. I am having a little trouble with it as I do not understand some of the words from the book."

_The way you're smiling at be should be totally illegal, _Cosima thought.

-"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you the first time. Yes, I finished it. I can totes help you with it if you need it."

_Stop smiling at me like that. No, don't. But how are you so beautiful?_

-"Merci, Cosima. I will owe you one." Delphine said as they sat down on the place on the grass, strategically chosen by Cosima so they were out of the hearing range of any others that were relaxing around them.

-"No, it's fine. It's my pleasure. I'll be happy to help. I know I'd appreciate it if I was to go to another country."

Delphine laughed. "Okay. But there must be some way I could repay you."

Cosima gulped as she pushed the glasses up her nose and looked away in the distance. She remembered the conversation with Sarah and Alison she had that morning over breakfast. Halloween was just around the corner, and it was the favorite holiday for all three of sisters. They had been planning to visit Hogsmeade that day, and then return for the feast that night. Hogwarts was the most beautiful during Halloween. That morning Alison announced that she would give Donnie another chance, so he would be coming with them, and Paul asked Sarah to go as well, and Helena would spend the whole day at Honeydukes anyway, so all three of them suggested that Cosima should invite Delphine. The brunette thought such an idea foolish as there was no way that the French beauty would ever accept it, especially since she apparently started dating Aldous Leekie, but now when she glanced up to Delphine's puppy eyes, she decided to give it a shot.

"Well… there's this one thing." Cosima said, leaning back on the grass, her hazel eyes not moving from Delphine's face.

"What is it?" The French girl asked, her eyes widening a little.

-"You know Halloween is in one week, right? And my sisters and I are going to Hogsmeade, you know, the only magical village around? I don't know if you heard of it."

-"Of course!" Delphine's head tilted to the side curiously. "I've never been, though."

-"Well, they are kinda bringing their boyfriends with them, and I'll need someone to dork out to the Shrieking Shack with me. And I know the whole village like the back of my hand, and it will be totally awesome since it's Halloween and all, so I can show you around. So, uh, you can come with me? It's like a win-win situation. You get a cool tour guide and I have a buddy to make me company."

Cosima had no idea how she managed to blurt all of that out, but she felt her chest lighter after she had said it. Her insides danced when she saw another smile forming on Delphine's face.

-"Wow, yes, thank you, I would love that." Delphine said as her eyes lit up with excitement. "I love Halloween, and it will be magnifique to go with you."

-"Great! It's a deal, then." Cosima would have stood up and danced right there and then, had it not been for a male voice behind them, who called Delphine's name, and suddenly Cosima's morning was completely ruined.

-"Aldous!" Delphine greeted, but Cosima could not help but notice how her eyes were not lit up as they were while the two of them were talking about their upcoming Hogsmeade trip.

-"Hello, Niehaus." He greeted as he offered a hand to Delphine to help her stand up. Cosima gritted her teeth and only waved her hand at him. Her jaw set as she watched the two of them exchange glances, and she almost rolled her eyes when he said he was there to take her to lunch as he promised the previous night.

_Was it lunch time already? Where the hell did the morning go?_

-"Sorry Cosima, but I have to go." Delphine said as Cosima stood up too, muttering something about it being okay and having to go to Hagrid's to find Sarah and Helena anyway.

-"We will talk about Hogsmeade in the common room tonight, oui?" Delphine asked with her eyebrows slightly raised as Aldous walked away for a little bit to greet his fellow Slytherin that came up to him.

-"Yeah. Obvs." Cosima replied, smiling up at the blonde. She could feel her anger at Aldous subsiding when she saw those smiling eyes Delphine seemed to be giving only to her. Her body froze as the French girl leaned in and kissed her on both of her cheeks.

-"See you tonight!" Delphine waved one more time before turning her back and walking off towards the castle with Leekie by her side.

Cosima's hand raised to wave back, but instead placed itself on the cheek, fingers touching the skin that was burning from the touch of Delphine's lips.

"Cos!"

Sarah's voice snapped her out from the slight daze, and she turned around, seeing two of her sisters walking up to her. The smiles on Sarah's face indicated that she had witnessed the thing just happened, and she strolled down to her, eager to tell her everything.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah checked the wrist watch and rolled her eyes, leaning against one of the statues just outside the Great Hall. Her eyes averted to the stairs again, but the dreadlocked geek was nowhere to be seen. She looked over at Alison, who had her arms crossed on her chest, huffing. They were all eager to get to Hogsmeade as soon as possible, since it was bound to be crowded once they got there. Paul the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain was waiting for them just outside the gates, and Sarah did not want him waiting for too long.

Her eyes followed Donnie who had approached them around fifteen seconds before and was already complaining about how he wanted to to be there early and asking why they all needed to go together. He was silenced by Sarah's glare and Alison's reassuring pat on the chest. The Gryffindor sibling did not understand Alison's attraction to Donnie at all, he was an idiotic slimeball with no sense of humor and a really bad aftershave.

"Cos, do you have to be bloody late all the time?" Sarah shook her head, muttering to herself. Even Helena was getting impatient, wanting to go and say hello to Thestrals before they would go out of school grounds. She was even more excited for Honeydukes, and even Sarah could not wait to visit Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. That store had excellent prank items, and even more so during Halloween.

"Sestra, there she is, there!" Helena's hand flew towards the first flight of stairs, where all four of them saw Cosima running down two steps at a time, getting her coat on at the same time and yelling 'sorry' to those she accidentally pushed to the side.

Breathless, she smiled at her sisters and bent in half, shaking her head. "Sorry. Sorry, but it's totally not my fault this time. Mrs. Vector kept us a lot longer than she should have."

"Cos, I think you're about the only one who likes Arithmancy around here. How many of you are there in classes? What, three?" Sarah said with a smirk on her face as she moved away from the statue, buttoning up her coat too. The weather finally started to act as though as it was mid-autumn, and even though there was still sunshine outside, the wind was too sharp and cold to enjoy it on the grounds.

"Ha-ha, Sarah. There is eight of us taking Advanced Arithmancy Studies, if you want to know. Delphine is with us too." Cosima grinned at the mention of the Beauxbatons exchange student she had a major crush on and who agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Cosima even though she dated that obnoxious older guy from Slytherin.

"Where is Delphine, anyway?" Alison asked, her eyebrows shooting upward. Her hair was picked neatly up with a green-and-silver ribbon, never failing to match it with the rest of her robes, which annoyed Sarah to no end. Alison was already feeling pressure from Donnie's glare, and he would probably pester her about it for the rest of the day. The two of them were not back together officially yet, that is what she told Sarah earlier that morning, but the way he behaved was not helping his case anyway. Alison did like him for the most part, but if he was to cause her more stress with O.W.L.s going on, she would not sacrifice her nerves no matter how much she liked him.

"Maybe she got h-" Cosima started, but before she could go on, she heard a voice right behind her.

"Salut!"

Cosima grinned, and turned around, her cheeks reddening only a little bit. For the past two weeks she had spent more time with Delphine, not only in their bedroom in the Ravenclaw tower, so she learned how not to look like a complete dork all the time. Ignoring Sarah's smirk as her eyes travelled from Delphine and back to Cosima, the dreadlocked sibling lead them out of the castle, making sure the blonde was right by her side. Sarah and Helena were right behind them, and Alison and Donnie walked in the back, already arguing under their breath.

"Holy watershed, it's so cold!" Cosima shivered as she looked around. Some of the students were already outside despite the cold weather, some remained in the castle to watch the Great Hall being decorated for the feast that night, but most of them were strolling down the pathway to the gates, which lead to Hogsmeade.

Delphine hooked her arm under Cosima's and pulled herself closer. "It is not as cold in Beauxbatons." The blonde said, shivering slightly too, but Cosima did not hear her properly. The fact that she was so close to her made her forget all about the wind that was blowing through her bones.

"Yeah, what is it like in Beauxbatons, then?" Sarah asked from Cosima's right, her own hands in the front pocket of her coat, while Helena was clinging to her, her dark curls poking out of the hat she loved and wore all the time.

"Well I cannot tell you much, but it is in Southern France." Delphine explained, leaning forward as they walked to see Sarah properly. "We do have winters, oui, but never snow. We do not have these heavy robes or coats, we do not need them. It is always warm."

"Must be nice." Sarah muttered, shrugging.

"Yeah, that sounds cool, but I'd never trade that for the winter here." Cosima said, starting to explain how beautiful it got in the winter, when snow covered the grounds, people played outside and how the lake would freeze over every now and then. Her free arm flew around as she explained how everything looked like and what kind of winter activities the sisters liked to do. Her other arm, the one Delphine was holding, was remaining still, afraid that Delphine might pull back if Cosima got too carried away with her hand waving, a habit she developed ever since she began school.

"You'll see in a month or two, anyway." Cosima added, grinning up at the slightly taller blonde who was looking back at her and smiling now. "Oui, looking forward to it."

They had passed the gate then, and Sarah saw Paul standing there, hands in his pockets and his back straight. Even though he was good looking, and half of the school was sighing after him, Sarah always thought him a little bit too arrogant to even bother with him. But he had been asking her to go to Hogsmeade with him for over a month now, and she agreed only if he would come with all of them instead of just taking Sarah out for what she was certain was a date.

"You're late, Manning." He said, but was grinning widely, and even let himself chuckle when he saw the roll of her eyes and an excuse that it was not her fault at all. Paul greeted everyone too, and shook hands with Delphine, but ignored Donnie. It was some old rivalry between the two of them that dated back to third year, that was what Paul told Sarah afterward, but refused to elaborate it any further.

The walk to the village was laid back, and even fun, even though Donnie was still sulking from the argument he and Alison had. Just as they entered Hogsmeade, Helena's friend Maggie, who was a Slytherin herself joined them, and soon enough Helena apologized to her "sestras" before going off with Maggie to Honeydukes, as the rest of them agreed on going to The Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer before visiting the shops and The Shrieking Shack.

Sarah waved after her, glad that Helena was making friends other than clinging to Sarah all the time. Besides, paying attention to both Helena and Paul was a little bit too much even for her, and even though she hated to admit it, the past half an hour she spent talking to the Gryffindor Chaser was quite enjoyable.

When six of them went inside the Inn and found a table large enough, Sarah looked at her sisters. Cosima was laughing at something Delphine just said, and Alison was just sitting there, her mouth pursed into a thin line and Donnie drinking his Butterbeer and looking out at the window.

"So let me get this straight," Paul started, snapping Sarah out of her thoughts of punching Donnie in the stomach, and she looked up, raising her eyebrows questioningly. "You were all born within half an hour, but you didn't grow up together? How does that happen?"

Sarah sighed.

"Our mother gave us up for adoption. We still have no idea who she is, except that she's a witch. And nobody wanted to get four babies at once, yeah? Don't ask me why. They screwed up, badly, so we all ended up on different sides of the planet. Cosima was raised in the United States, Alison in Canada, I remained here, and Helena was adopted in Ukraine. My foster mother, Siobhan, she's a witch herself, and when she found out about the three of them, she contacted their parents and luckily they were all willing to send them to Hogwarts. Mrs. S, that's how I call my foster mother, invites us all to spend every Christmas at her place in London, to develop a sense of family, that is, and for that I am grateful to her." Sarah smiled before taking a gulp of Butterbeer.

"Yeah dude, and imagine how cool it was for me and Alison to find out that we were witches, since we grew up in a totally Muggle families. Finding out that I'm a witch and finding my sisters was the best thing that could've happened, honestly." Cosima was smiling now, aware of Delphine's eyes on her. She looked over at the French girl. "What?" She asked, feeling her stomach fluttering with butterflies as Delphine seemed to be little taken aback by the fact that she was just caught staring at Cosima.

"Oh nothing, I guess it must be nice, having siblings. I grew up as a single child." Delphine responded, looking at her Butterbeer before taking a sip. "This tastes divine. Merci for ordering it for me, Cosima."

"No problem, Delphine. Butterbeer is the shit." Cosima replied, feeling her cheeks hurt from all the laughing. "Wait until you see the Shrieking Shack, you're totally be grateful that you came with me here today."

"I think I already am grateful." Delphine replied, and Cosima tried really hard to get the grin off her face, and failed miserably.

Meanwhile, Alison was explaining her own early years in Muggle world to Paul. Donnie seemed disinterested.

"… and when Siobhan contacted my mother, she was first really reluctant to send me over the ocean to this 'lunatic who talked about Magic as if it really existed'. But several months later I got the Hogwarts letter and my mother reconsidered. I'm really thankful for that, this is where I want to be." Alison managed to muster up a smile towards Sarah, and Sarah reciprocated.

"That's great. I'm a single kid too, like Delphine over here, and my parents are a Witch and a Wizard. My dad played for USA national Quidditch team for years, so I guess I get the love for Quidditch from him. My mom went to Hogwarts too, and wanted to send me here, so here I am." He smiled widely, and Sarah could not but notice the dimples on his face. She quickly took another sip of Butterbeer that warmed up her insides almost instantly, but she soon began to realize that the warmth in her cheeks was not only caused by the beverage. She hated it.

The next hour passed in all of them talking about differences between Hogwarts and other Schools of Wizardry, with Delphine occasionally commenting upon Beauxbatons and Cosima explaining Durmstrang to them, the school in which Helena was supposed to go had Mrs. S not contacted her foster parents. Before they knew it, they were outside the Three Broomsticks again, and Delphine and Cosima insisted upon going to the Shrieking Shack, Donnie made Alison go to Madam Pudifoot's Tea Shop, and soon enough Sarah and Paul were left all alone in the street, with people rushing around from one store to another, or standing in the middle of the street, admiring the carved pumpkins and spooky decorations that were hanging all around the place.

Sarah felt bad for Alison for going to that dreadful place for happy couples, and with Donnie to add to that, but she refused to go to her aid. If she was stupid enough to put up with his moronic self, Sarah would not be the one to stand in her way. She also cursed Cosima for leaving her alone with Paul, when they agreed upon spending the whole day together, but her geeky sister really seemed to want some alone time with the Frenchie, so she let her go.

Paul, on the other hand, did not look all too disappointed to be left alone with Sarah.

"Where do you want to go next? We can still catch up with Cosima and Delphine at the Shrieking Shack if we go now?" He suggested, even though Sarah knew that he secretly wanted the opposite.

"It's all right, Cosima keeps going on about that house for years now, and I know the story by heart. A student is a werewolf, and Albus Dumbledore builds the Shrieking Shack for him to be there every full moon so he does not rip apart other students. No one knew about it until recently, and they thought the place haunted. And so on." Sarah rolled her eyes, chuckling. "I am glad she has someone else to bother with it."

Paul nodded. "Do you want to go to the jokes shop instead, then?"

Sarah's eyebrows raised. "You like Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?"

Paul chuckled. "Who wouldn't like them? I heard the Weasley brothers were pranksters in their years at Hogwarts. I wish I went to school when they were here."

It was Sarah who nodded this time as they started walking towards the shop that was at the end of the street. "I wouldn't ever think that you would actually like something like that."

Paul chuckled again. "And why's that?"

The brunette shrugged. "I don't know. You always appear so…"

"Stuck up?" Paul finished the question for her, then laughed again. "Sarah, yes, I'm arrogant and I hardly hang out outside my Quidditch team group, but I'm as fun as the next one."

"All right." Sarah said, smirking. "All right."

"What?" Paul asked, grinning down at her.

"Nothing. I've had no idea that I actually might have fun with Paul Dierden, that's all."

"I didn't know the cold, hardass Sarah Manning would give me a chance and let me hang out with her, either, but here we are."

"Shut up. Don't make me regret my decision, yeah? Come on, while the store's still half-empty."

She took his hand and ran to the door, Paul right behind her, his eyes falling on their hands, the sight making him smile as he followed her inside.

—-

The day passed quickly for everyone except Alison, who ran out of the Tea Shop about an hour after Paul and Sarah passed by it on their way to the Weasley's shop, and she headed to the Shrieking Shack, found Cosima and Delphine and let them know that she would go back to the castle, since Donnie ruined her day and she wanted to have nothing with him. The two girls asked her to stay with them, but she refused, muttering something about having to study and barely holding back her tears as she waved them goodbye. She encountered Helena and Maggie on the road back too, but the two of them were too distracted by all the things they bought in both Honeydukes and Weasley's joke shop, and Alison did not feel like talking anyway.

All she thought about was changing her clothes and heading back to the Great Hall earlier to watch everything getting ready for the feast later that night. By the time she reached the large front door of the castle, Alison was already in a better mood, reassuring herself that Donnie was a bastard anyway, and a small smile played on her lips as she set herself down by the Slytherin table half an hour later, looking at the floating candles and the sky on the enchanted ceiling that was now revealing first stars of the evening.

"Hi. Mind if I join you?"

Alison's gaze lowered slowly from the ceiling and to the girl with a yellow and black scarf who was now standing next to the place where Alison was sitting. Why was a Hufflepuff talking to her, and what was she doing over at the Slytherin table? Her brown, long hair that somewhat resembled to Alison's and Sarah's fell past her shoulders, and her hazel eyes were several shades lighter than her own. The Slytherin nodded, moving herself over to the side a bit.

"Sorry to bother you, but you're the only one alone around here, and my friends are still at Hogsmeade." The girl continued, her own eyes looking at the enchanted ceiling for once.

"It's fine." Alison reassured her, even though she still held back a little bit.

"Sorry, I'm an impolite douchebag. My name's Elizabeth. Elizabeth Childs. But you can call me Beth."

"Beth." Alison replied, shaking the hand the Hufflepuff extended, and gave her a little smile of her own. "Nice to meet you. I'm Alison Hendrix."

—-

"What happened?" Sarah asked once she and Paul met Cosima and Delphine at the agreed place, in front of Three Broomsticks. Paul was carrying Sarah's bag together with his own. He was still grinning inwardly when he thought about how he and Sarah spent an hour in the joke shop and then took a long walk around the village, talking about their childhood years. He was sure that he could see her smile at his jokes, even though her voice was still sharp and her mouth never held back sarcastic and teasing comments about what he said or did. He liked that she was a badass, and she seemed to like the same thing about him.

"I don't know man, she came to us since she didn't know where you two were, telling me that she is going back to the castle. I think Donnie messed things up again." Cosima answered, waving her hand. Delphine was standing next to her, nodding.

"I'm gonna kick his bloody arse back to his mother." Sarah swore under her breath, starting to walk. The three of them followed.

"But hey, at least she got rid of him, right?" Cosima asked, resisting back the urge to smile when Delphine squeezed her arm lightly. The two of them have been walking like that for most of the day, and the brunette was sure that her arm would ache for the lack of Delphine once they parted.

"Yeah. But I swear to Merlin, if she does so much as look at him again, I am going to kick both their arses, and send one of Hagrid's monsters after both."

All four of them laughed.

"We'll deal with that later. What did you guys do?" Cosima asked, and Paul and Sarah told them the story of their day, and how they watched Helena and Maggie scare the crap out of a bunch of thirteen year-olds. While Paul talked, Sarah was looking up at him with a smile on her face that disappeared as soon as she saw Cosima's quirked eyebrow at her.

"Piss off." She mouthed, causing her twin to laugh.

"What about you two?" Paul asked in return once they regained their breaths. The majority of students were now passing through the gate, the four of them included, and they were walking up the path as Cosima used both of her hands to explain all the things they did, not excluding the history of the Shrieking Shack.

"Bloody told ya." Sarah whispered to Paul, and he chuckled under his breath, but continued to talk to both Cosima and Delphine. Both Sarah and Cosima were laughing as Delphine explained how she got terrified of some guy who put the werewolf mask on and ran into the Shack at some point yelling: 'I am the ghost of Remus Lupin and I am here to rip you all apart!'

"That's got to be Colin from Gryffindor. Sixth year. He told us he'd do something like that, but we didn't believe him. Some guys even bet on him. It will be raining Sickles tonight." Paul explained as all four of them got into the Great Hall. They saw Alison sitting with a girl Sarah knew only from some of the classes, and they went over to the Slytherin table to join them.

"Just in time." Alison said as she introduced them all to Beth, and Beth smiled back at all of them, shaking each of their hands firmly. "And before any of you ask me, no, I don't want to talk about Donnie. Let's just enjoy the feast, okay?"

All of them agreed and took their places around the table.

—-

Somewhere in the middle of the feast, Aldous came to pick Delphine up, and she went over to sit with him, greeting him by wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss. After that event, Cosima propped her head with the hand that was leaned on the table, not really eating anything off the plate.

"Hey, Cosima?" Paul called from the other side of the table, while Sarah looked over at Alison who was smiling widely at something Beth was saying to her. Who the hell was this girl now? Her head shook as Paul's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, for the second time that day, and she looked over from him to Cosima.

"Yeah?" Cosima said, raising her eyes to look over at Delphine and Leekie who were sitting at the other end of the table, laughing about something.

"Don't worry about Aldous. He's a douche. Delphine will dump him again for someone a lot smarter. Trust me." Sarah's face was lit up with another smile when she heard Paul's words. Where the hell did that conceited, egotistic captain of Gryffindor Quidditch team go, and why was he so goddamn cute?

"I'm that obvious, huh? Just great." The dreadlocked twin shook her head and adjusted her glasses on her nose. "Thanks man. I hope you're right." Cosima replied, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice and looking over at Paul and Sarah. The sight of her sister leaning close to Paul made her smile a little bit.

"Besides," Sarah added, leaning forward. "You can always send Helena to scare the crap out of him. Yeah?"

As the three of them laughed, Minerva McGonagall stood up to wish everyone a pleasant continuation of their evening, a wonderful Hallows Eve and a lucky return to classes the following morning.


	4. Chapter 4

"Cosima! Cosima! Réveille-toi! You are going to be late again!"

The young Prefect of the Ravenclaw house stirred in her sleep, muttering some incoherent words as to be left alone. It was not until she felt the semi-cold hand on her shoulder that she sat up abruptly, her dreads falling forward and hitting her in the face.

"What?! I'm up, I'm up! Oh hey." She rubbed her eyes, squinting them up at the blonde who had been hovering over her and who now straightened herself up, already dressed in school robe, with the Ravenclaw scarf thrown loosely around her shoulders and her smile at ready while she glanced down at Cosima's sleepy face.

"You told me to wake you if you overslept, and I did not hear when you arrived to the bed last night." Delphine said softly, glancing at herself in the mirror that was on the opposite side of Cosima's canopy bed. Even though she had completely taken in the whole Hogwarts outfit, the biggest reason being that Beauxbatons students did not have heavy coats for the late autumn, the blonde still kept the pale blue hat from her French school, and was now adjusting it on her head. The blond, usually somewhat bushy hair was picked up into a bun on the back on her head, all of the details that did not escape Cosima's gaze once she reached for her glasses and put them on her nose.

"Thanks, what time is it anyway?" The brunette asked, her voice still a little bit raspy from the recent sleeping state, too lazy to reach for her wrist watch.

"It is half an hour until the match. I tried to wake you up for breakfast but I couldn't."

Cosima could hear the soft chuckle and her eyes met Delphine's in the mirror, while she adjusted the scarf, the last piece of her accessories before she turned fully to the brunette again.

"That's fine, half an hour is a lot of time. I studied until late last night so getting caught up on sleep is totally more important than breakfast right now." Cosima stretched slightly after a light shrug of her shoulders, taking in Delphine's silhouette. Even though they have been sleeping in the same dormitory for almost three months now, she was still taken aback by the blonde's beauty every morning. Exhaling, she jumped out of the canopy bed as gracefully as she could, and started pulling out her Ravenclaw-colored clothes from her trunk. She also made sure to get a Gryffindor badge, since today's match was between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and she was always on the red-and-gold house's side. Her excuse was that she wanted to support Sarah and Paul, but it was more because of the fact that Leekie was the Slytherin Quidditch Captain.

"I'll be ready in couple of minutes, d'you wanna go to the pitch with me and the others, maybe?" She glanced as if nonchalantly over her shoulder at Delphine who was looking out the window and into the sky, deciding if she should take an umbrella or not. November has had a tricky weather so far. Upon hearing Cosima's question, she turned around, a somewhat apologetic look gracing her features, and the brunette knew the answer and the reason behind it even before the blonde answered.

"Oh, I'd love to, but Aldous wanted to see me before the match, you know." A small smile appeared on Delphine's lips and Cosima's knuckles whitened as she clutched her blue sweater and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, of course."

"I'm sorry, Cosima. But I will see you when the game starts, d'accord?" Her eyebrows shot upward as Cosima noticed that even her eyes were smiling down at her now. How did she manage to do that?

"You bet."

"See you soon." The French girl mused, checked herself in the mirror once more, and headed to the door.

"Hey, Delphine?"

The blonde stopped in the doorway and turned to look at her. "What is it, Cosima?"

"If I don't catch you during the game, see you afterwards outside the stadium? Y'know, since we might not find each other, a lot of people and all that?"

"D'accord." Delphine replied with a wide smile, and, before Cosima could say anything else, she was gone, closing the door behind herself.

The Ravenclaw sat on her bed again, looking out to the window herself. The clouds above the school grounds were heavy, but they didn't look like the rain ones. She didn't envy the teams that would play that day though, since the winter was just around the corner and the wind had become more violent and sharper than ever. The days of studying and spending time outside were over, at least until Easter. She did not mind though.

It was the last weekend of November, and December was just around the corner. Soon enough the Christmas would come, and she and her sisters would go to London and visit Mrs. S, Sarah's witch foster mother who was possibly one of the coolest people Cosima had ever met, and that's what she reaffirmed every year after they would spend the Christmas break over at her house. She tried not to think about not seeing Delphine over Christmas, but the thought of not having to see her and Leekie together either made her spirits lift up a little.

All she looked forward to was the fact that this was Leekie's last year at Hogwarts, and that their relationship would probably, hopefully, fall apart after Delphine stayed in school and he went off to work, or trained for an Auror. The fact that Aldous Leekie was one of the smartest guys of his generation, and was a captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team made her dislike him even more. Delphine talked about his brilliance to the Ravenclaw girls in the Ravenclaw tower every night, and the brunette could not and would not understand their fascination over him, even though they constantly asked the same questions and constantly received the same answers. Delphine did not seem to mind talking about him either, and that was why Cosima preferred staying in the library until late at night, every night, especially during the weekend.

Glancing over at the watch again, Cosima realized that there was only ten minutes until the game, and she pulled the clothes over herself in a hurry, picked up her dreadlocks in a ponytail and grabbed the coat before running out of the room. The Ravenclaw tower was empty, since all of the school looked forward to this match for weeks now, and she was sure that the castle must have been deserted by then.

Several minutes later, after running through the empty corridors and down many flight of stairs and to the main entrance, she could hear the voices and the loud cheers from the stadium that was on the other side of Hogwarts grounds, and she sprinted across the grass and past several students that were strolling casually towards the pitch. She doubted that she would find Sarah, Alison and Helena among hundreds of students, and she hoped that they waited for her, even though there was one minute left to the start. The harsh pang in her chest indicated that she was nowhere trained enough for running for such a long time and it made her slow down, her hand holding her side. Luckily, she was at the entrance of the stadium and voices shouting, cheering and singing as well as the magically enhanced one echoed through the school ground.

**_Welcome ladies, gentlemen and Professors, witches and wizards and pets, to the second Quidditch match of this year between Slytherin and Gryffindor!_**

The euphoria, together with the shouting, shook Cosima's body as she grinned widely, hurrying through the door.

**_My name is George Higgs and I will be your commentator during this game. But before I present our great players, let me remind you of the Quidditch rules._**

"Cosima. Hey! Cosima!" The familiar voice made the brunette turn around, and she saw that Alison's friend standing with her arms full of candy, smiling at her.

"Oh hey, Beth! Did you see my sisters?" She was shouting, her voice barely audible over the cheers as Higgs announced the names of the Gryffindor team that was now flying in, one by one, into the stadium. Her eyes looked up at the tall, muscular figure flying in, his scarlet robes hovering behind him. Paul Dierden did look impressive up there, and his arm was raised up as he waved to the red-and-gold part of the stadium that exploded when his name was said out loud.

"Yes! We're sitting in the upper row, I just went to get some snacks, come on."

Beth, being a Hufflepuff, was wearing her own house colors, and Cosima was sure that it was because not to get on Alison's nerves, since most of the Hufflepuffs cheered for Gryffindors and wore scarlet props when Hufflepuff wasn't playing. Alison herself was very competitive, and there was no doubt that she was dressed in green and silver from head to toe for the occasion.

It took them a minute to get to the spot where the rest of her sisters were, and she saw that Sarah was already shaking her head at her. Helena was sitting between Sarah and Maggie, her Slytherin friend, and she saw Alison smiling at the sight of Beth. The two of them have become very close since Halloween, and Cosima was sure that the Hufflepuff girl had a huge crush on her sister, but never made any comments upon it.

"You even outdid yourself this time, Cos." Sarah shouted, grinning widely and moving to the side to let her sister sit between herself and Alison, who looked reproachfully at the Gryffindor badge on Cosima's black coat.

"Sorry, Ali, but you know I don't like Leekie." Cosima apologized, nudging her sister a little bit, still feeling out of breath from all the running. "And shut up, Sarah. I stayed up very late studying last night, I almost overslept if it wasn't for… Hey, have you seen Delphine?"

Both of her sisters shook their heads. It was Beth, who was now passing candy to all of them, who replied. She dropped a fistful of Chocolate Frogs into Helena's lap, who thanked her with a wide smile, making Sarah chuckle.

"I've seen her with Aldous Leekie before. I think I saw she went with some of the Ravenclaw girls when he went to change for the game."

Cosima nodded, but didn't feel disappointed for far too long. Gryffindor scored their first points only several moments into the game, and the whole side was on their feet, cheering, except from Alison who gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes. Alison was also the only one, together with Maggie and Helena, to jump up when Slytherin scored. Helena did not want to take sides to any of the teams, since her friend Maggie cheered for one team, and her favorite sestra for the other.

Half an hour passed very quickly, and the Snitch has been seen twice, but not caught by any of the Seekers from either of the teams. The ball was in possession of one, then the other team, and the points seemed to be tied until Slytherin started to lead. Alison was full of herself and was shouting at the players, even though her voice was drowned in the sea of Gryffindor 'boos' every time the Slytherins would get into the possession of the ball. Beth was shouting at the technical mistakes both sides made, since she was a Chaser for the Hufflepuff team and loved getting out her frustration at cheering and shouting instructions at either of the teams, and tried to be less biased towards Gryffindor since she did not want Alison to smack her over the head like she did with Sarah, who openly started mocking Leekie who was almost knocked over his broom by the Bludger sent at him by the Gryffidor beater when he almost caught the Snitch.

Another half an hour passed and Gryffindors were losing their spirits since the Slytherins were leading by one hundred points. All of their eyes were concentrated on the Seekers, Leekie on one side and young Wood, the son of Oliver Wood who was once a Gryffindor Quidditch captain himself, on the other. The Snitch bore one hundred and fifty points, and if Wood was to catch it, he would bring the victory to his house nevertheless.

Paul had just caught the Quaffle and scored a point for the Gryffindor team, to Sarah's great content, but the attention was not on him for far too long. Against the ever-darkening sky of the imminent rain, there was a Golden sparkle circling around one of the goal hoops on the Gryffindor side. Their Keeper was waving his hands at Wood, but it was Leekie who noticed it again first, and was zig zagging between the players, avoiding the Bludgers that were thrown his way.

"Bloody hell, Wood! Go! Go! Shit!" Sarah was now jumping up and down, but she was not the only one. The whole stadium was on its feet, all of their eyes averted to the two Seekers who were racing towards the hoops, the Golden Snitch hovering around them as if teasing both of them, before disappearing to the left. However, Leekie's eye was trained enough not to lose it from his sight, and Wood was right behind him.

Paul scored three more goals in the chaos that ensued, and was kicked from his broom by two Bludgers sent his way, and he was dangling in the air, holding himself with one hand, causing the collective gasp from the Gryffindor side. Sarah had her mouth covered and Helena clung onto her arm tightly as they watched him climb back up with some effort, but it was Alison's scream that made all of the sisters look at her.

Her eyes were glued onto the young Wood, who was the Seeker for the first time in his life, being a fourth year and just played his first game, and who was now holding his hand high up in the air, the Golden Snitch safely between his fingers. The Bludger flew right past him, but it did not matter. It was over.

**_Henry Wood catches the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!_**

Some of the third years that were sitting in front of them were crying with happiness. The commentator's voice, though magically enhanced, was drowned in the sea of cheering from the Gryffindor's side. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined in, and everyone was yelling out Wood's name. The commentator said something about him being the real father's son, but no one seemed to hear him. Cosima and Sarah were hugging each other, and Alison, despite having a frown on her face, managed to congratulate them, with a comment about it 'not being over by a long shot'.

—

It took them a while to be able to get out of the stadium, and by the time they were out in the open, Paul was already striding across the grass, still in his equipment, wearing a huge grin on his face, his cheeks still red from the harsh wind that must have been way worse when flying on a broom. Sarah threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, to everyone's surprise, since she was never the kind to show her emotions towards him openly, especially not in front of the whole school.

"Nice work, Dierden!" Beth and Cosima said almost simultaneously.

"Thanks, ladies. I expect nothing less from Hufflepuff, though." He winked at Beth, who was a Chaser herself. "Guess you owe me, Hendrix." He added, grinning at Alison whose own face was flushed, but rather in slight anger than the cold.

"Not until you own the Cup, Paul." She couldn't help but smirk at him with an eyebrow quirked, but before he could reply, Beth tugged at her arm. "Let's go celebrate." When Alison told her there was nothing to celebrate at all, Beth shook her head. "Nonsense. It's Saturday afternoon, we finished all our homework and there will be an awesome feast, right?" Allowing her own facial expression to soften a little bit, Alison said goodbye to her sisters and walked off across the grass and back to the castle. The sky was getting darker as the dark grey clouds seemed to have cover the bright, white ones, and the first rain drops made Helena and Maggie to go towards the castle as well.

Sarah looked up at the sky as well, stepping away from Paul who had his broom swung over his shoulder, then she looked at Cosima who was turning around, her gaze searching for someone.

"Cos, you coming with us? We're going to have lunch and then celebrate in Gryffindor Common Room. We can sneak you in too, yeah?" Sarah pulled a hood over her head, looking over at her sister who took out her wand and cast the water repelling charm at her glasses, since she was in a hurry to pick up an umbrella.

"Yeah, sure, thanks. But, let me find Delphine first, okay?" Cosima did not even know why she didn't come with Paul and Sarah who let her know that they would be in the Great Hall until after lunch and wait for the two of them, and who then walked after Helena and Maggie. The Slytherin team was passing by her now, frowning and so unlike Gryffindors who ran towards the castle, singing and cheering at their Seeker. Delphine must have been somewhere with Aldous, and after he had lost to a boy three years younger than him, he must have needed Delphine to help him get over it.

The Ravenclaw shuddered at the thought, but she kept herself leaned on one of the pillars. The rain was coming down heavily now, and the last of the students who were left behind were already safe inside the castle.

_-What are you doing, Cosima? She's probably in the Great Hall with him right now, she probably forgot all about you._

_-But it's so unlike Delphine._

_-Get over it kid. Go celebrate with your sisters._

Having finished arguing with herself in her own head, Cosima finally decided to go back inside. She looked down at her coat that was now soaked a little bit, and realized that she dropped the badge Sarah had given her for last Christmas. Cursing herself, she decided to get back to the bench where they were sitting, figuring that she had probably dropped it when they were hugging each other after the Snitch was caught. She honestly doubted that she would find it at this point, but the mere thought of seeing Delphine consoling Leekie back in the castle made her stall.

"Lumos." She said and pointed the end of her wand between the seats as she walked among them, but she did not need to look for long. Smacking her forehead, Cosima realized that she was, in fact, a witch with a wand, so she cleared her throat and pointed to the row they were sitting in.

"Accio Gryffindor badge!" With a smile on her face, she watched it fly towards her and she caught it between her fingers. She then pondered for a second, and tried again. It was a long shot, but she decided to give it a try.

"Accio umbrella?" After a minute, there was a slight wheezing sound. To her great delight, she watched several umbrellas fly from the other side of the stadium and one of them she caught with her free hand.

"Awesome." She chuckled to herself, feeling relieved that she didn't need to run through the rain, and opened the Muggle invention every single Witch and Wizard seemed to like. A second later she was jumping down and walking through one of the stadium archways.

But then she heard a sound that was not produced by the rain that was getting heavier by the moment. Was someone crying? Frowning to herself, the brunette walked in the other direction, and through one of the archways that lead to the changing rooms of the Slytherin team. To her great surprise, she recognized the blue hat, even though the face was hid behind the hands.

"Um… Delphine?" Cosima asked reluctantly, stepping forward.

Another sob. A sniffle. And then the blonde Beauxbatons exchange student look upward.

"Cosima? What… what are you doing here?" Delphine wiped her puffy red eyes with her sleeve, but remained sitting on one of the benches. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, as if she was embarrassed to be caught crying all by herself.

Cosima's cheeks flushed a little bit too at the question, and she closed the umbrella before tilting her head to the side and grimacing. "Uh… well I lost the Gryffindor badge that Sarah got me and decided to look for it." She wanted to say that she was waiting for Delphine too, but didn't want to sound pathetic, so she just let it slide. "And I did! But then I heard someone crying and… here I am. Sorry, by the way. I… just didn't expect anyone was here anymore."

"Non… non, it's okay." Delphine said, sniffling away the tears and exhaling. "I didn't think anyone was here too, that's why I stayed."

"Yeah, obviously. Are you… okay?" Cosima stepped closer to her and sat on the bench beside her, leaving the umbrella to the side and placing her own hands in the lap while she looked at the blonde underneath her glasses.

There was a pause, in which they looked at each other, and then Delphine's eyes filled with tears again.

"It's… Aldous. He was really mad that they lost and… I tried to comfort him." The blonde tried to blink away the tears, but failed. They rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away quickly. "And we went away under the benches, in private, you know, but he was very… intrusive and I… I told him no and…"

"He what?!" Cosima's surprised exclamation was a bit louder than she intended it to be, and it made Delphine flinch a little bit, and she shook her head.

"And I am still young, you know, and I did not sleep with a boy before, and he is already seventeen and he slept with plenty and I couldn't say yes, Cosima. And he…" Delphine took a deep breath, but she managed to hold back her tears this time. "He told me that I am not a good girlfriend and that I am not there for him and that he doesn't want me there today." Her bright eyes broke the gaze with Cosima and she looked at her hands.

The Ravenclaw shook her head. "He's a douchebag, Delphine. I can't believe he actually tried to do something like that."

"Non, please, Cosima, don't stress yourself over it, d'accord? I am stupid for even being surprised. I mean, I heard the stories and I let myself care for him anyway, you know?"

Cosima slid across the bench and closer to Delphine, nodding. "I know. Happens to the best of us. But you can't let him screw up your mood, okay? I still have a bunch of Chocolate Frogs that Beth brought us." Her eyebrows raised as she fumbled through her pockets and dropped two into Delphine's lap.

The French girl laughed, looking up at the brunette. "Thank you. I'm so glad that I made a friend like you here."

Her hand reached over to squeeze Cosima's hand lightly, and the Ravenclaw reciprocated.

"Yeah. Ditto. Obvs." Cosima murmured, glancing at their hands and brushing her thumb across Delphine's soft hand. When she looked up, Delphine's puffy face seemed closer to her.

_Shit._

Cosima's lips parted a little bit as they looked at each other, and she was about to move in closer, but a head peeked in through the door, making the two of them look up. They didn't move from each other, though, but remained sitting, holding each other by the hand.

"There you bloody are! What the hell, Cos, I thought you drowned yourself in this rain."

_Thanks a lot, Sarah._

"No, Delphine and I were just waiting for the worse to pass. Aren't you supposed to be celebrating with Paul, or something?"

Paul's head appeared in the archway as well, grinning at both of them. Cosima was well aware that the two of them might have figured out what was happening, and that is why both of them had that apologetic expression on both their faces.

"Yes, but what kind of a sister would I be if I let you miss lunch, especially when you missed breakfast too, yeah?"

_The one I didn't want to kill right now._

Delphine stood up, fixing her blue hat, still not letting go of Cosima. She still had a slight blush on her cheeks, but the brunette knew that the reason behind it was definitely different now. "Oui, they are right, Cosima, you did not eat anything since last night."

Rolling her eyes, the Ravenclaw stood up herself and picked the umbrella up with her free hand. "Fine, fine, let's get lunch, and then we're going to celebrate. Gryffindor common room?"

Sarah and Paul nodded, and Delphine agreed. "I cannot stay long, though, I have to pack. I am leaving for France in the morning."

"What?" Cosima's eyes widened, her insides dropping.

"Oh, I need to get there a week early before actual holidays, you know, to visit Beauxbatons and tell them I am staying in Hogwarts. And then I will be back after Christmas." The blonde was beaming widely, and Cosima wondered if she and the other, sobbing Delphine were even the same person.

"Really?" Sarah asked, huddling close to Paul who opened the large umbrella for the two of them, while Cosima did the same, and had Delphine take her under the arm.

"Oui. I guess I like it here too much." Her eyes dropped to Cosima, who was grinning widely up at her.

"Please tell me that it doesn't have anything to do with that wanker Leekie." Sarah asked, knowing what might have been on Cosima's mind. Her twin looked over at her, but the Gryffindor did not understand her facial expression, so her eyes traveled to the blonde again.

"Non, non. Leekie and I broke up today."

Paul raised his eyebrow, looking down at Cosima as if saying 'I told you so', referring to the conversation they had on Halloween.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Delphine." Sarah said, but her facial expression gave out a completely different sentiment.

"So am I. Kind of. But I have you guys, non? I think I might spend more with Gryffindors and Ravenclaws more from now on."

Cosima couldn't help but look admiringly up at Delphine. She really knew how to keep her spirits high, even when she was crying just ten minutes previously.

"Just don't tell Alison, yeah? She might get offended." Sarah barked, smirking.

"I don't think she'd mind. She has her own Hufflepuff friend she's drooling over." Cosima said playfully as they reached the main entrance.

"You reckon—-" Sarah started, her eyebrows quirking up, wondering if Cosima was thinking the same thing about Alison and Beth she has been thinking for the past month.

"Oh yeah dude." Cosima and Paul interrupted her at the same time, and all four of them laughed as they headed to the Great Hall. The sound of rain slowly died away because of the noise coming out of the Great Hall, and Cosima looked up at the darkening sky of the enchanted ceiling as they walked in. Delphine was still holding her arm even though she didn't have to anymore.

That Saturday was a day for celebration, alright. Both the Gryffindor team and Cosima managed to beat Aldous Leekie at his own game. And it felt wonderful.


	5. Chapter 5

The morning after the celebrations over Gryffindor's victory over Slytherin greeted everyone with first snow of that year. The Hufflepuff common room was alive from the early hours of the Sunday morning, and it didn't take long for the students to rush out of their bedroom with exclaims of snow and winter finally coming to Hogwarts.

Beth herself felt a smile creeping upon her face once she climbed on her four poster bed and peeked outside. The Hufflepuff house was located almsot nearly underground, and all of the windows were high on the walls, unlike Gryffindor's and Ravenclaws, who enjoyed their view of the school grounds from several tenths of feet above the ground. Beth, however, would never change her place in the Hufflepuff house, not even for the magnificent view, since everything about it was wonderful: the plants that hung everywhere and anywhere, the earthy yet comfortable smell and narrow hallways, the large round doors that lead to the rooms of dormitories… All of it reminded her much of Tolkien's stories of Hobbits, the lore she fell in love with as a child, since her father was a Muggle and a great literature fan.

The snow outside and the warm fire in the common room made the feeling even more homely, the Christmas spirit was slowly creeping upon everyone, and the young Fifth year could not help but feel over-excited for the holidays and travel back to Toronto, Canada, to her parents. It was even more exciting now that she met yet another Canadian, Alison, and the mere throught of them spending two weeks together in the same city, away from her sisters, brought Beth a huge grin on her face as she finally settled herself down on one of the armchairs, Daily Prophet in her hands.

As her eyes traveled over the daily news, her mind was lost in thinking about that dark-haired, bright-eyed Slytherin girl with whom she was spending almost every day in the past month or so. Beth even liked her sisters, but she prefered it when they were alone, because that is when Alison felt more like herself. When around Sarah, Cosima and Helena, Alison always fussed about the exams, about Donnie, about classes. But when the two of them were completely alone, studying, working on homework or just walking all around the place, Beth could see Alison's genuine smile, hear the sound of her bells-like laughter, and see her usually tense shoulders relax as she would lean on a tree trunk and talk about her home back in Canada or her adventures with her sisters when they were together during summer break every August.

For the first time in five years, Beth felt that she had found a friend whom she could tell everything, even though she was never such an over-sharing type. Ever since she found out about Hogwarts and the magical side of her family, young Elizabeth Childs swore to herself that she would be an Auror, chasing after dark wizards and hoped to be as great as Harry Potter, one of the most famous wizards in the history, and she always told herself, if she was good enough, she would maybe even be given a chance to work with him at the Ministry in the future.

After several moments of jumbled up thoughts that raced between Alison and her future, as well as the Christmas break, Beth realized that she had read a whole Prophet article without even understanding what it was about. She also noticed that she had an almost non-existent smile on her face that she had no idea where it was coming from. Exhaling slowly, she threw the paper on the table and looked at her watch. Fifteen minutes to nine.

Even though she still had plenty of time to get to the Great Hall, Beth raised herself from the armchair and picked up the bag she had previously put beside herself, full of books for Charms, Astronomy and Defense Against the Dark Arts, which she would later study with Alison. For now, their plan was to get breakfast together. Knowing Alison, she would probably be as excited about the snow as Beth was, so maybe a break from studying and hanging around in the school grounds was not too bad of an idea either.

Once she got to the entrance door of the Common room, Beth tapped it with her wand and watched it resolve before her eyes. Deep in thought, she climbed up the stairs and made her way to the Great Hall without having to think about it. She had memorized the path so well that she could cross it with her eyes closed, too. She also counted the steps of stairs as she climbed them, automatically as well, since it was what she had been doing from her first day at Hogwarts. Beth paid great attention to details, small or big ones, and it was one of the main reasons that she was so good at Quidditch. It has been two years since she started playing for the Hufflepuff team, and she was looking up to be the Captain in her sixth year, once their current one finished his Seventh year in following months.

_Thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine, forty. Forty one, forty tw-_

"Beth!"

A male voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up, seeing Paul Dierden standing by the stairs, wearing a ridiculous winter hat and as equally ridiculous gloves.

"'Sup, Dierden?" Beth said once she reached him and shook his hand in a greeting, the slightest of smile gracing her features while she was looking up at him. "Had a fun night?"

"Amazing. My head still hurts. Some of the guys procured Firewhiskey from Hogsmeade. I've never seen Sarah drink before. It was great."

Beth looked over his shoulder at the group of Slytherins that passed by them, heading to breakfast. Her eyes examined their faces even though she knew immediately that Alison wasn't among them. The silver and green ribbon Ali always wore in her hair was really hard to miss. Beth's eyes found Paul's again, having no idea what he was saying.

"… so we probably won't be able to make it."

"Sorry, what?" Her eyebrows shot upward in an apologetic manner.

"What's up with you, Childs?" He teased, and the look on his face made her slightly alarmed, and her cheeks flushed as though she was caught in an act she had no idea she was preforming in the first place. Shrugging it off, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I dozed off a little. Didn't get much sleep last night." She nodded to herself.

"Hendrix kept you up all night, huh?"

There was a rush of the blood in her cheeks again. A wide grin on Paul's face indicated that he noticed it. She hated him. She hated her own damn reddening cheeks.

"Yeah we were… studying and stuff. What were you saying about not being able to make it?" Beth added quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Right." Said Paul, fixing the hat on his head. "I was saying that Sarah and I will probably be going to Hogsmeade today to get some Christmas shopping done, so we won't make it to the study group. I think Sarah was supposed to tell Alison, but I think she's too hung over for that." He laughed.

"Right. Okay. Yeah, I'll tell Alison. No problem. Just don't come crying to me when she kills you for making Sarah fail all of her exams." It was Beth's turn to shoot back, and she was grinning widely. _More hours alone with Alison._ That thought made her smile more than she should have.

"I can tell you're all beaten up about it." Paul teased. "Sarah will ace everything, don't worry about that, Beth. Just make sure you do all the studying so Alison doesn't kill you. Because I really want to kick your ass on the Quidditch pitch. You ready for that?"

"You're damn right." She grimaced at him and fixed her bag. "Speaking of, I should head to the Great Hall. Say hello to Sarah for me, okay?"

"Sure. Make sure you're focused on your studying and not… 'stuff'" He called after her, putting the air quotation marks at the last word. Why the hell was he doing that? What else would she and Alison do?

—-

"Your face is red. Are you okay?"

Alison was already sitting by the Slytherin table, leaned over her notes and holding papers with one hand, and toast in the other. She was looking up at Beth now, a little smile on her face that appeared as soon as she spotted Beth approaching.

"Hey, yeah, I'm fine. Dierden was a dick, as usual, so this is my angry red face." Beth exhaled a breathy laughter as she sat across from Alison, putting her own bag beside herself and grabbing the nearest plate. Her nerves were making her hungry all of a sudden.

"You saw him, just now?" Alison inquired, placing down the paper and taking another bite of her toast. "When are the two of them joining us for the study group?"

And then Beth explained the little meeting the two of them had on the stairs, but she omitted the part when he teased her about Alison, without even knowing why. Alison, was, of course, upset, but decided that it wasn't her place to judge. If Sarah was to throw her education away for a boy, who was leaving in several months, it wasn't her problem at all. Beth could still see that she was upset, by the slight frown on Alison's face as she looked down at her plate, so she quickly changed the subject.

"On another note, have you seen the snow? Isn't it beautiful outside?"

It worked. Alison faced her now, her own smile mirrored on the Prefect's face.

"Yes! It looks wonderful, maybe we can take a walk through it later? Without Sarah and Paul, we will probably finish the studying sooner?"

Beth nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

"Great. Well, finish your breakfast and we can go to the library. The sooner we're done, the sooner we can relax and enjoy the Sunday? I didn't enjoy a Sunday in a really long time."

There was a chuckle coming from the other side of the table. "You mean, other than when we sneaked into the kitchens and stole tons of chocolate when you were PMSing?"

"Beth!" Alison hissed under her voice. "I thought we agreed upon not mentioning that again." Her face softened up in a second, and before she knew it, she was laughing.

Two of them were clutching their sides, roaring with laughter until sudden movement that was coming from nearby as someone stomped towards the place where they were sitting made them both look up. Alison was wiping off her tears as she looked at a very distressed Cosima who sat next to Beth, then stood up, then sat down again.

Beth shifted in her spot, looking over at the dreadlocked sibling with a raised eyebrow. Alison leaned over at the table, still trying not to burst into another set of giggles, but the look on Cosima's face prevented her from doing so, since she looked like someone had just died.

"What's wrong with you, Cosima?" She asked, while her twin took out the book from her back, threw it on the table, but then leaned her elbows there and buried her head in her hands.

"Oh god, oh my god, someone please kill me asap. I can't… wow, I can't believe what just happened."

Beth and Alison exchanged their glances before looking at the Ravenclaw again. Beth always thought that Cosima was a little bit weird, but a girl with an overall positive character and amazing knowledge about everything. She was always smiling and the most chilled one of the quadruplets, so seeing her in distress like this was a whole new dimension for the Hufflepuff.

"What?" Alison asked again, this time more impatient, and Beth turned her head to the side. "Cosima, is everything okay?"

"No, it's not okay." The Ravenclaw looked at both of them, and for a moment Beth thought that she would start crying. But she didn't. Instead, she burrowed her face in her hands again. "I made a huge mistake. _Huge. Mistake."_

Beth could see Alison rolling her eyes, and she could feel herself growing more curious by the second. "What's up, Cosima?" Her own tone of voice wasn't as impatient as Alison's, but it was as equally as curious.

"I kissed, Delphine, okay? I kissed Delphine and it was awesome but she kissed back only for a second but then pulled away and told me-"

Alison interrupted her mid-sentence. "You… kissed Delphine?" Her eyes widened in shock, disbelief and slight amusement, while Beth tried to hold back a chuckle.

"Let Cosima speak, Alison." Beth said slowly and turned to Cosima again, who was staring at the Enchanted ceiling as if she was hoping for a lightning to strike her down.

"… She told me she needed to go, since today was her time to go back to France, obvs, and I had to be the idiot and ruin everything by kissing her. I honestly don't know why I've done it, we were just standing and hugging in the dormitory and no one was around and it totes seemed like a legit thing to do, you know? But it obviously wasn't."

Beth put a hand on her shoulder and patted it gently. "You're not an idiot. We all saw the thing you two had. Hell, I'd kiss her too if she looked at me with those puppy eyes."

The Hufflepuff could have sworn that she saw Alison's eyes flash towards her sharply, but when she turned to look at her, Ali was turning her gaze towards Cosima, who continued talking.

"I know man, I know. And she broke up with Aldous and everything and I thought… And now I'll never show my face again, and I hope she never comes back because I made a huge idiot of myself."

"Well." Beth could hear Alison saying, and the tone of her voice made her glance over the table at the Slytherin, who was looking over Cosima's shoulder. Her own eyes followed her gaze and she realized why Alison was smirking while talking. "That'll be a little hard because she's coming over here."

"What?" Cosima spat out, looking at her sister, and Beth was smiling up at the Beauxbatons girl who had just walked up to them, wearing Muggle clothing and her hand placed in the back pocket of the jeans. Her cheeks were only slightly flushed.

"I came to say goodbye." Delphine said quietly.

"You're leaving for France today, right?" Beth asked her, letting her hand drop from Cosima's shoulder. Cosima was staring at the ceiling again, her face as scarlet as the Gryffindor Quidditch robes.

"Oui." Delphine responded. "My train leaves in forty-five minutes."

"We'll see you in January, then?" Alison asked, her eyebrow quirked and her head tilted to the side. Beth knew that she was asking this more for Cosima than for her own sake, and she admired the love Alison had for her sister, even though she never openly expressed it.

"C'est vrai." Delphine nodded. "I will finish all the things I have with Beauxbatons and I will be a Ravenclaw when I return, I went to McGonagall and she put that hat on my hat and… I am a Ravenclaw now." Her gaze flew over Cosima's back of the head, but the other made no movement.

"Congratulations!" Beth and Alison said in unison while Cosima still stared at the white clouds and the snow that was falling from the ceiling. Beth had an urge to kick her under the table, but decided against it. That was what Sarah would have done, she was sure, from what she knew about the dynamic of the sisters.

"Merci. Alors, I am going. I will see you in a month." She waved at the two of them, and the two of them waved back. Then Delphine stood there for a moment more, as if she waited for Cosima to say something, but when nothing happened, she turned on her heel and walked away from the table.

"There, Cosima, at least she isn't running away to France." Beth could hear the obvious amusement in Alison's voice and she glared at her.

"Why didn't you say bye to her?" The Hufflepuff asked once Cosima groaned incoherently.

"I did, remember? And she didn't like it. So I'll just pretend she doesn't exist for the next two and a half years."

"Don't be an idiot, Cosima." Alison reproached. "It will be fine."

"Let's not talk about it anymore, okay? What are you two up to?"

Beth could see that Alison was reluctant to drop the subject about Delphine, so she quickly started talking, telling her about their plan to study and then go and walk around the school grounds in the snow.

"At least someone will enjoy the romantic snowfall, then." Cosima muttered as she finally decided that she would grab something to eat before the breakfast was done.

"Romantic? What are you talking about?" Alison hissed, her hand flying to play with strands of her hair that was falling loosely on her shoulders, but Beth, once again, could have sworn that she saw the Slytherin blushing. Her own cheeks had the same response though, but she didn't make any comments.

"Doesn't matter." Cosima mused, popping a mouthful of eggs and bacon in her mouth. "Enjoy it while you can."

—-

The afternooon the two of them spent studying was not really an eventful one. Madam Pince would not let them talk, and Alison seemed to concentrated on her work to whisper about anything but the tasks they were doing. After the homework was finished and they caught up with everything they wanted to do for that Sunday, Beth was glad to be out in the open again, when there were people chattering. The castle was pretty much deserted after lunch since everyone went outside, and she and Alison themselves got their robes, scarves, hats and gloves, and headed outside.

They joined several of other Hufflepuff friends of Beth's, and had snowball fights, built a snowman and when the sky began to darken, they decided to take break from winter games, as Beth herself called them, and took a walk to the Whomping Willow. The wind was biting at their cheeks, and they clung to each other to make themselves warm. Alison refused to go back inside, since it was the last Sunday the two of them would spend together until after holidays. That statement somehow surprised Beth and she turned to look at the Slytherin Prefect.

"What do you mean? Aren't you coming to Canada for Christmas break?"

Alison shook her head. "No. We always go to Sarah's foster mother over Christmas. She lives in London and she loves when we're all together over the holidays. A very nice woman, she cares a lot for Sarah." The brunette nodded, and Beth could feel slight disappointment creep over her.

"Oh, that sounds very nice." Beth said, looking out to the Whomping Willow. She could see Hagrid's cottage in the distance. His lights were out, and she figured he was out in the Forbidden Forest again.

"I wish you could come too, though." Alison said, making Beth look over at her. "I mean, I love my sisters, but we don't have a lot in common. And I can talk with you for ages, even though it's always mostly about school and Canada stuff. It's nice to have another Canadian here."

Beth nodded, her disappointment slightly dissipating and she smiled. "That's okay, you need to bond with your sisters. Family's important."

"I know." Alison said, sighing.

"And I'll be here when you come back. And I'll send you a Christmas present, of course."

Alison looked out in the distance, her own smile mirroring Beth's now. "And I'll send one to you. Expect a fancy wrapper. I'm great at those."

Beth chuckled. "I bet you are."

"Thanks for being a great friend, Beth, especially after Donnie and everything else being effed up. I'm really glad I met you."

"Same goes for you, Alison." Beth replied, her insides warming up at those words. They had never talked about these things before. Even though it was obvious that Alison wasn't only putting up with her, Beth was happy to hear that the Slytherin girl considered her a friend. Alison's next movement, however, made her insides flip, and she looked down when she felt warm lips on her icy cold cheek.

"Hufflepuffs aren't so bad after all." Alison giggled and bit her bottom lip, and Beth felt her own mouth slightly agape at the sight.

"Slytherin's aren't either. I'm happy you gave me a chance to prove you wrong."

"Especially when I'm never wrong."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, especially then."

"I think I'm ready to go back in now." Alison murmured, and Beth could feel her shivering.

"Yeah, that would definitely be a good idea. I think the dinner is soon, too."

Alison tugged at Beth's arm. "Race you to the entrance?" The daring sparkle in her eye made the Hufflepuff grin.

"You're damn right, Ali." And, before the other one could collect herself, Beth set off.

"Loser steals chocolate from the kitchens next time!" She yelled as a response to Alison's protest.

The school grounds were falling silent as the last of the students were heading back in the castle for dinner. The snow was getting heavier each minute, announcing the beginning of a harsh yet another beautiful winter.


	6. Chapter 6

Finally, the date for departure had come. It was an early Saturday morning of December 23rd when the sisters met each other at the bottom of the large staircase just outside the Great Hall. They were even too excited to eat, and the spirits were high among all of the students, those who were leaving but those who stayed too.

The whole castle was beautifully decorated for the upcoming festivities. Even the fifth years, whose stress levels were heightening with each month that passed and brought them close to O.W.L.s forgot all about it as they watched the large Christmas trees being redecorated and ghosts singing Christmas carols as they appeared randomly from the walls in the hallways and clasrooms alike.

That morning the breakfast passed quicker than usual, since they had a train to catch, along with other students who were leaving to their families too. Beth and Paul had left the day before, together with Helena's friend Maggie, since they had to cross the Atlantic ocean and preferred standard Muggle transport to the Portkeys.

Sarah had caught Cosima looking longingly at the owl mail that came that morning, just as she did every morning since Delphine left for France, but as usual, nothing came.

"I'm sure she'll write for Christmas, Cos." The punk twin commented as she finished off her breakfast, and, as usual, pushed the pudding over to Helena who was already buttoned up and ready to go. There was no one else that loved Christmas more than Helena. She loved the Christmas cooking, the way Mrs. S decorated the house, and most of all she loved opening her presents as much as she loved shopping for them.

"Right, well, I wouldn't bet on it." The Ravenclaw sighed, but she did not want her spirits to be completely ruined by the mistake she had made only several weeks ago, by kissing the French blonde who was obviously not into girls, or at least that was what Cosima kept telling her sisters. Alison, on the other hand, who was sitting on the opposite side of the Gryffindor table, was smiling widely at the paper in her hand.

"Elizabeth left me the note last night. Wishing me a happy trip. She's such a good friend. I hope she will like the present I sent her for Christmas."

Cosima and Sarah looked at each other knowingly. Both of them, together with Paul, were absolutely sure that the Slytherin and her Hufflepuff friend were crushing on each other, without fully realizing what was happening.

"What did you get her?" Cosima asked, glad to have the subject away from a certain Beauxbatons exchange student. Even though Delphine told her that she was an official part of the Ravenclaw house now, Cosima liked to think about her as a Beauxbatons student still, since all of them were apparently beautiful beyond comparison. Looking at Delphine, the Prefect could not agree more.

"Some Quidditch History book she told me about she would like to have." Alison replied, smiling as she tied her hair up into the ponytail before setting the hat on top of her head. The weather was getting cold, and the Enchanted ceiling was snowing again. The white Christmas was the best kind of Christmas.

Once the breakfast was done, all four of them headed to the carriages that waited for the traveling students just outside the front oak door. Helena, as always, patted the head of a Thestral that was pulling their carriage. "They are so beautiful", Sarah could hear her say, and every time she would do something like that, the punk partly wished she could see them live too. Helena had showed them to her from one of the books in the library before, but in reality they could only be seen by those who had seen Death. Sarah had heard from Cosima once that a whole generation of students, at the time when Harry Potter still attended Hogwarts, was able to see Thestrals after the great battle that represented the great milestone in the whole magical history. Even though it happened several decades ago, Sarah secretly wished she would have participated in one of the great battles of the modern magic time, since in present times the only live action they could witness was when they actually finished Hogwarts, and eventually employed themselves in the Ministry of Magic.

Both she and Cosima discussed the Auror career several times before, but they still did not know if they would pursue it yet or not. Cosima was also greatly interested to be a Healer at St Mungo's, if she were to stay in Britain, but those decisions were still far ahead of them. For now, they had a train to catch.

—

The trip back to London passed fairly quickly, as they played Wizard's Chess and busted their sides laughing as someone set off the fireworks of the Weasley brothers' collection in the train's hallway, causing complete ruckus and setting one of the compartments on fire. Cosima and Alison needed to leave Sarah and Helena for some time as Prefects needed to have their own meeting in a separate compartment for a while, but they returned in no time.

When the landscape outside the window changed from wild rural areas, covered in snow, to the more industrialized one, they knew that they were close to King's Cross, and they all changed to their Muggle clothes. Cosima and Alison both had clothing fit after latest fashion. The Ravenclaw had a red coat and underneath it an indigo sweater to match with her skirt, stockings under it and flat boots. She pulled her dreadlocks in a ponytail and shoved the wizard robes, hat and Ravenclaw scarf in her suitcase.

Alison, on the other hand, buttoned up a white shirt under a pink sweater, kept her Slytherin scarf and wrapped herself in a white short jacket, with jeans and boots to match. Her wizard clothes were neatly folded in her suitcase. Both of them looked perfectly Muggle, unlike many wizard kids that were running down the train hallways, in often oversized or too small clothing they never used except when they traveled to Hogwarts and back.

Sarah, on the other hand, kept both her wizard robes and the Gryffindor scarf, but she did dress in a plaid shirt and jeans that were a little bit too baggy, but she did not care. Her foster mother was picking them up at the station anyway, and she did not care about pretending to be a Muggle, since she was born and brought up as a wizard child. She smiled at Helena, who was wearing an oversized parka and its hood over her head. "Sestras, look, I'm a lion! I'm a Gryffindor!" She yelled and they all laughed together as they descended the train on the Platform 9 and ¾ and through the brick wall.

All of them had huge, beaming faces as they pushed strollers with their luggage, running towards Mrs S, who was standing on the side at the full King's Cross, her hands buried in her robes and her pointy hat in one of her hands. She was a woman in her early forties, dressed in all black yet in a completely non-Muggle way. The glances she often got from the Muggles when they passed by were of no concern to her, since she was rarely showing herself in the Muggle part of London. Working in the Diagon Alley's Flourish and Blotts, she hardly ever had the need to take the public transport or interact with the non-magical world.

"Hello, luv." She greeted Sarah since she was the first one to reach her foster mother and give her a tight hug. "Did you travel safe?" Her eyes fell on each of the sisters as they let go of their strollers. She complimented Cosima's new hairstyle as well as Alison's clothes, hugging them both, and chuckled as Helena told her how much she missed her and London in general. They told her in unison the story about some students lighting up the compartment on fire, and she laughed with them, commenting on it with a mixture of amusement and light severity. Sarah was very proud to talk about her foster mother, even though they were both hot-headed and stubborn and often fought over the silliest of things, Helena absolutely adored her, and Cosima and Alison both secretly wished that their mothers were cool witches like Siobhan.

"Where's Fee?" Sarah asked once they made their way out of the station and headed towards the parking lot. Siobhan had a car, slightly magically modified to fit more than four people in it, even though it looked like a normal car for the Muggle eyes from outside. The trunk was large enough to fit another car in it as well and its bottom could not be seen if one was to look at it directly.

"He is home, finishing with decorations, little lad. He is very excited to see all of you." She said, putting their suitcases on top of each other. When she was done, there was still plenty of room to fit another set of them. All of their owls were left at Hogwarts, since it was easier not to carry them for only one week. The sisters decided not to stay too long in London, as they had more resources back at Hogwarts for studying for the O.W.L.s.

"I bet he's grown a lot since the last time we saw him." Alison said. She had a great deal of affection towards Sarah's foster brother Felix, who was only ten years old and already very eager to start his Hogwarts education. Sarah often teased him how he would never get his letter and how his parents were actually just a set of Muggles and he would always run to Siobhan crying. Even though she gave him a hard time, Sarah loved her baby brother more than anything, as they grew up together ever since he was brought to Mrs. S as a baby, and he was technically more of a sibling to her than her actual sisters, no matter how much she adored them too.

"Yes, he's a big boy now. Several months ago he mounted the broom for the first time in the backyard. He says he dreams about being a big Quidditch player one day." Siobhan said once the three girls were all set comfortably in the back and Sarah in the front.

The ride to Mrs. S' house did not last for too long, since wizard cars had the same powers as the Knight bus, and it squeezed between the long lines of cars on the busy London streets, and did not need to obey the standard rules of traffic. As many other things, this was completely invisible to the Muggle eyes too, and even though there were several of other wizard cars on the street, Siobhan was a capable and careful driver, and soon enough they safely arrived in front of a Victorian house just a bit outside of London.

Alison was a little bit car sick since she was only used to her parents' Volvo and the normal traffic obedience rules. Even though she was riding in Mrs. S' car several times a year, she thought she would never get used to it. Her hand gripped the car door once they all got out of it, and, inhaling several deep breaths, the Slytherin soon was straightened up again, getting her suitcase that Mrs. S handed to her.

Cosima, on the other hand, had wide eyes, almost as wide as Helena's, each time when they visited Sarah's house. The amount of magic that the house possessed, and the way nothing magical was hidden once the front door of the house closed was utterly fascinating to her, almost as much as the Mrs. S' collection of books in her study. Her parents had a library as equally as big back in California, but they mostly included Muggle medicine books or Muggle literary classics. Bathilda Bagshot was not a name you could find in the Niehaus household. Helena liked to chase the gnomes and play with them and Felix early in the mornings, or get all the books regarding magical creatures and spend hours in front of the fireplace studying them. If there was anything that Helena wanted to do after Hogwarts, it would definitely be something magical animals related, whether it be a professor back at school or working for the Ministry.

Sarah, on the other hand, did not even wait for her suitcase, since all of them would be carried inside by Mrs. S and her wand anyway, but she rushed through the gate and towards the front door, where Felix stood. As soon as he saw his sister come out of the car, he started running down the stairs and met her halfway into a big hug.

"All right, Fee?" She asked, ruffling his hair once they pulled away from each other, and he grinned up at his big sister. "Holy shite, you've grown!" Her grin was wide as she gave him another hug, and she rolled her eyes at Mrs. S only briefly as she passed by, letting her know that she heard what Sarah had just said.

"Language, Sarah." The witch scolded but had a smile on her face as her free hand ran through Felix' pitch dark hair. Her other hand was waving her wand, and four suitcases followed in shortly afterward, floating mid- air behind her.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry." The punk said, moving aside for her sisters to greet her foster brother too. Felix loved every one of them, and even though Helena scared him a little at times, he still gave her a bear hug. He liked listening to their different accents and how they talked about Hogwarts to him. Since all of them belonged to different houses, he did not care in which one he would be sorted, as long as the next year would come sooner. He often asked Mrs. S if she could make time pass by faster, as powerful of a witch she is, and she would just laugh softly at him, often telling him to enjoy his childhood as much as he could.

The warmth of the house inside was very welcoming after the cold, sharp winter wind outside. The snow threatened to begin falling again. All of them had red cheeks but big smiles on their faces as they set themselves down in the living room. Mrs. S was already working on the tea, and Felix was sitting in Sarah's lap as they talked about the first three months of their fifth year.

"I remember my year of O.W.L.s," Siobhan told them as she sent their luggage up the stairs to Sarah's room where all four of them would sleep during their stay, "I studied only those subjects that interested me and I left the others for the last moment. And let me tell you girls, that is not a smart idea at all." All of them laughed.

"Yes, Mrs. S, exactly, that's what I tell them every day." Alison was quick to remark, and Cosima laughed at Sarah's facial expression.

"… But it's not healthy to obsess over it every minute of every day, yeah?" Sarah barked back, her arms set firmly around her brother's waist.

"Moderation is the key, darling." Mrs. S replied, and Sarah grimaced at Alison, who rolled her eyes at her sister and got up to help Siobhan with the cups. Even though she did not need help, the witch let Alison help her, since she was always too eager to.

"Where have you gone wrong, Sarah? Alison is a better host than you are." Cosima teased the punk while she and Helena set up the chess pieces for another match before dinner.

"Well I can't really get up with this bloke on my lap, now can I?" Sarah replied, tickling Felix playfully on the sides a little bit. He turned to her. "Tell me about your boyfriend, now, you promised." Sarah knew that he did a thing like that on purpose. Mrs. S turned around with her eyebrows raised slightly, the facial expression Sarah picked up from her from an early age.

"Don't listen to him." Sarah said quickly, pushing Felix off her lap as he stuck his tongue out at her. "I'm gonna put a curse on you. Just keep teasing."

"You won't. Underage witches and wizards can't use magic outside Hogwarts." He recited back at her, and everyone laughed, Sarah included.

"You think you know everything, don't you, Fee?" She shot back at him as Alison handed her a cup of tea and sat beside her on the sofa.

"I don't think I do. I know. But I want to know a lot more. Be smart. Like Cosima."

"Aww, thanks, little dude!" Cosima beamed at him after sipping her tea. "You're already totally smarter than me. I can't beat Sarah in an argument as amazingly as you do."

The boy looked positively proud of himself as he stood up and walked over to get his own cup of tea, and then returned to sit on the floor to watch the chess match between Helena and Cosima. The Ravenclaw had her head leaned on her hand, but she was not as nearly as strategic as her Ukranian twin. Several matches later, and she was losing miserably. In the meantime, Alison helped with dinner, and Sarah felt herself dozing off in front of the fireplace, her insides warm enough from the tea and Siobhan's homemade cookies.

She did not get much sleep the previous couple of nights, spending them in the Gryffindor common room with Paul. Even though she was annoyed at him from the first year of Hogwarts, he had found a way to get close to her, and now she was sure that she was in love with him, as much as that sort of thing was possible with fifteen year olds. The way she thought of Paul was nowhere near Cosima's gushing over Delphine nor was it serious as Alison's and Donnie's relationship when they were still a thing. They were growing to be very great friends that made out in the dark hallways when they were adventurous enough to wander outside the common room after hours when it was completely forbidden to walk through the castle.

The thought of him brought a smile on her face without her even realizing it, and it was only when Siobhan called them for dinner that she looked up.

"Are you certain there is no boy, Sarah dear?" Siobhan smiled at her once she waved the wand and all of the plates were set on the table. "I know that look on your face."

The Gryffindor helped with the loaves of bread and soup, and exhaled impatiently at her foster mother.

"Why don't you just tell your mother about Paul, Sarah?" Alison said while passing by, carrying the food to the table.

"Oh? Paul, is it?" Siobhan asked, smiling at her daughter. "Is he decent, Alison?"

The Slytherin nodded. "Very, Mrs. S. I don't usually like Gryffindor boys, but Paul is okay, especially since he's a seventh year."

Felix listened to the conversation with his eyes wide as he was sitting on his chair. Helena, in the meanwhile, was explaining some of the chess strategies to Cosima who was listening too intently to pay attention to the conversation.

"Oi! At least I'm not the only one. Yeah? Cosima has a thing for this Beauxbatons exchange student." Sarah grinned maliciously. Only when hearing the French school name did Cosima look up.

"What?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yeah, Delphine is very cute but we think she's afraid to accept that she likes Cosima back. Girl drama." Sarah rolled her eyes and ducked when Cosima threw a set of napkins at her.

Siobhan chuckled. "I'm positive she'll come around, love. And if she does not, you will find another girl for yourself. You are a smart and intelligent young lady." At those words, Cosima's face lit up and she felt her spirits lift.

"Thank you, Mrs. S."

"You are most welcome. What about you, Alison? Where is your lad? What was his name, Donnie? And what about you, Helena?"

"We broke up." Alison shot almost immediately as she sat down on her chair.

"Good. Never liked him anyway." Siobhan commented, smiling softly over plate. She listened to Alison explain the whole situation to her, and the witch told her that boys like that were to be kept at a distance, anyway.

Helena then told her all about her new friend, Maggie, and how she would not trade her for any boy or girl in the world. "Maggie loves magical creatures as much as I do." Helena said as she ate her own dinner. Their chat was interrupted by little Felix, who was surprisingly quiet during the whole conversation.

"I think I'm in love, too." He exclaimed, causing all of the sisters to look his way.

"Who's the lucky girl? Or, you know, boy?" Cosima asked, smiling widely at him.

"His name is Colin. He lives down the street, yeah? He is cute and wears glasses like you, Cosima. He wants to be a doctor one day."

All of them laughed. "That's great, Felix." Alison added, patting him on the back lightly.

After dinner they discussed the upcoming O.W.L.s and complained about how much homework they had. The conversation finished when they mentioned Christmas and all of the presents they would get. Felix remained awake with them up until 10:30 p.m., and since all of them were very tired, they decided to call it an early night and get up early in the morning to finish up all the decorations and cook the whole day with Mrs. S and possibly catch up with their homework.

Once they bode good night to both Siobhan and Felix, the four sisters climbed up the stairs to Sarah's bedroom. It was a spacious room, with one king-sized bed in which Sarah usually slept with Helena, and Alison and Cosima were sleeping on guest beds that were as equally comfortable every time they would come and visit. When they got dressed in their pajamas, they climbed under the covers.

"It's awesome to be in your room finally, eh, Sarah?" Alison asked, suddenly feeling very sleepily.

"It is. But I already miss my four poster bed in the Gryffindor wing." She admitted. Cosima and Alison agreed.

"I definitely can't even think about that one year we won't be returning to Hogwarts in September. It's so sad, man." They could hear Cosima say. The Ravenclaw had her hands folded behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. The roof window revealed a cloudy night sky.

Sarah looked at Helena who fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, then replied. "Let's not talk about those things, yeah? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Think presents and Christmas Carols and Diagon Alley on the Christmas morning.

"I can't wait to go to Diagon's Alley. I love that place." Alison murmured sleepily.

"Me neither. Good night, guys." Cosima said, turning to the side. She still had Delphine on her mind, even though the memory of kissing her and being turned down was not a bad one anymore. Her insides were fluttering now that she knew that they would see each other in less than a month.

"Night." Sarah and Alison responded in unison as they both felt themselves falling to sleep. The street lights outside flickered a little. It had finally started snowing.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a beautiful white Christmas morning when Sarah opened her eyes and looked around. Both Helena and Cosima were sleeping soundly, and Alison's bed was empty. She must have gotten up earlier to help Siobhan make coffee and tea. The Gryffindor sat up and stretched, before falling back into her pillows. It took her several minutes to realize what day it was. Only the night previously did they have a Christmas dinner and put the stockings under the wonderfully decorated Christmas tree, with a live pixie sitting on top of it. With her eyes widened, she sat up again.

"Bloody hell!" Sarah exclaimed, making Helena's eyes snap open. The pile on the guest bed that was Cosima on the opposite floor just grumbled and flipped to the side.

"Sarah, some of us are trying to get some sleep here." She mumbled, pulling the covers over her head. But the silence was not maintained for too long. A second later, Felix opened the door, in an oversized sweater Sarah bought him for that Christmas, together with the broom he would later proudly parade with around the house.

"Mrs S told me to get you lot downstairs for breakfast. Merry Christmas!"

Sarah grinned at him, as she had already putting her socks on and trying to brush her hair with her fingers. "Oi, Fee? Nice sweater!"

"I couldn't wait to open my presents, you sleep forever!" The boy replied, before closing the door behind him. He never lingered too long in Sarah's bedroom, since she always kicked his arse when they were by themselves if he ever did that. There was another grumble from Cosima and Sarah looked over at Helena, whose eyebrows shot upward at her sister's suggesting look.

"On the count of three, yeah?" Sarah said, a wide grin on her face. She never got to do those things back at Hogwarts, since they slept in different parts of the castle, and getting Cosima out of bed was always one of her favourite pastimes, especially since Cos _hated _to be woken up.

Her twins were now tiptoing to her bed, and Sarah nodded to Helena once. Helena herself hated being woken up, especially when she was warm and fuzzy in covers with large pillows, but pranks that Sarah pulled were always fun, and she loved doing things with her, more than with anyone else.

The Gryffindor raised three fingers in the air, and lowered them one by one in a countdown, before they both grabbed Cosima's covers and pulled them from under and over her, causing the Ravenclaw to shriek, her hand grabbing the wand that was resting beside her. "Sarah! What the hell?!"

But Sarah's roaring laughter was interrupted suddenly as the doors flung open again. Alison, in a Christmas-y pink sweater looked at the sight with her eyebrow raised. Helena was partly hiding behind Sarah, who was still laughing, and Cosima was holding her wand pointed at nothing specifically, her other hand searching blindly for her glasses.

"You're causing a racket." Alison said with a small smile on her face. "How are you not excited for Christmas presents? I'm dying to open them but I wanted to wait for you girls." There was that stern voice behind Alison's words, and in those moments Sarah partly envied and pitied Alison's future children. She would be a good mother, there was no doubt about it, but on the other hand, she behaved way too authoritatively for her own good.

"Yeah yeah," Sarah said, finally gathering her breath and throwing the covers back on Cosima's bed. "I was just trying to wake up Cos. I would suppose she would be excited for Delphine's present but…"

Another groan. "Yeah right, like she'd ever send me a Christmas present. Please, Sarah. It's too early for Delphine jokes."

"Fine." Sarah barked at her. "I'm goin' down, I can't wait to see my presents. You coming, Helena?"

"Da, sestra." Helena chimed, following Alison and Sarah out of the room, but before she could close the door behind her, Cosima was right there behind them. Sarah looked at her as they all descended the stairs together. "What's going on with you, Cos?"

Cosima shook her head. "Nothing, Sarah, sorry. I had a bad dream." But she would not tell them what it was, but instead smiled and raced them down the stairs and into the living room, nearly bumping into Siobhan who was fixing the decorations on one of the walls.

"Oi, girls, morning!" Mrs. S smiled at them, wishing them Merry Christmas. "I suppose you want to get to your presents right now?"

"Yes, please." Alison said, walking in right behind Cosima and turning to the big Christmas tree on the other end of the room, right beside the window. The snow had started falling again, but the sky was decorated with beautiful white clouds, indicating that there would be no snow storms for that day. The day was perfect for being outside and walking through the Diagon Alley, the thing they were planning long before coming to Siobhan's house.

Sarah and Helena were following closely behind, biding Siobhan a good morning and taking cookies from the platter that was laid out on the table beside the armchair. Felix was already seated on the armchair's armrest, his upper lip stained with milk that he was drinking from the glass in his hand.

Mrs. S seated herself on the sofa that was right beside the tree, cradling a cup of tea in her arms, her legs crossed. "Go on." She told them as they all sat in a semi-circle around the large pile of presents. "Felix and I opened ours earlier this morning."

Before she was done talking, Sarah was already stripping the wrapping paper off one of the closest presents with her name, revealing a large frame with a picture in it. In the wizarding world, all of the pictures moved, and Sarah immediately remembered the disbelief with which she heard about Muggle photos being still. She was surprised to hear that as much as Cosima and Alison were surprised to see that the people in wizard photos moved.

"That one's from me, Sarah. Of course." Alison said, smiling at her sister over her cup of coffee.

Sarah turned the frame around and saw four identical faces looking up at her. Even if Alison hadn't told her whose present was it, she would have known. Each year, since four years ago, on September 1st, the sisters would have their picture taken on King's Cross station just before the train would depart, and Sarah knew that it would be her Christmas present from Alison. She, however, would forget all about it until the Christmas was actually there, and it was always fun to see her twins looking up at her and doing the silliest things. Cosima and Alison were looking at each other's badges with excited expression on their faces and Sarah was glaring at them with her arms crossed. Helena's arms were wrapped around Alison's and Sarah's shoulders as she was blinking towards the camera and grinning widely. In the next second, Sarah was smacking Alison's shoulder to look at Siobhan who was taking the picture, resulting in her dropping her badge. Even though there was no sound, Sarah could remember her shrieking, and that made her laugh as she held the frame with her fingers.

"I love it Alison, thank you." She was grinning once she handed the frame over to Cosima, who took it and laughed.

"I swear, we're getting worse every year. I wonder if we'll ever pose for it normally." Alison sighed.

"Normal's for other people, Alison." Cosima grinned at her, giving the photo to Felix who held out his hands.

"I suppose you're right… oh." Alison took one of the presents marked with her name and her eyes widened. "This one's from Beth!"

Cosima and Sarah exchanged glances as Alison looked at the card.

"Well, open it?" Sarah nudged, wrapping open her own gift from her Gryffindor roommate. It was a hand-made Gryffindor scarf and Sarah wrapped it around her neck at once, watching Cosima doing the same with a scarf she had gotten from her parents, together with a book from some Muggle writer called Terry Pratchett she had never heard of, before Cosima told her everything about him a year previously.

Alison nodded, taking off the cover and putting it aside, and Sarah had a feeling she would fold it later. It was a small model of Toronto's CN tower, enchanted so it was changing colors to green and silver, before a snake, very life-like but very small enchanted as well, wriggled out from the inside and wrapped around its length. A second later, a badger appeared as well, holding onto the top and glancing down at the snake, decorating the top with colors of the Hufflepuff house. The lights exchanged and varying from one house's colors to another, until both animals climbed down on the pedestal and lied down next to each other.

"What the bloody…" Sarah was frowning, looking over Cosima's shoulder at the gift, but Alison was grinning widely at both the model and the card. The Ravenclaw snatched the card, before looking at it and handing it to Sarah.

"Wish you were here. Merry Christmas. Love, Beth." Sarah read out loud, moving backwards as Alison tried to get the card back.

"Give me that, Sarah. It's private."

"Obviously." The punk smirked, handing back the card. "A badger and a snake snuggling by the tower? That is supposed to be you and Beth, innit?" The Gryffindor teased, her grin becoming wider as Alison's cheeks became more scarlet with every second.

"It's an inside joke, Sarah. Let it go." Alison said, putting the present away with extra care and grabbing another wrapped present, the one from her parents, still blushing profusely.

"Yeah I'll bet." Sarah laughed with a raised eyebrow, taking one of the presents on her pile, smiling when she saw it's from Paul.

Cosima was already halfway through her presents, putting aside a bunch of books, brass cauldrons, some Muggle things she got from her friends back at home, some more books, a French dictionary, with which she hit Sarah over the head (_What? It's the best present ever, innit? You're gonna need it soon), _a brand new telescope from Alison together with an Astronomy book she wanted, a bunch of sweets from Helena and a book in Ukranian she asked for that summer. The pile was getting smaller, and her body froze when she read the card.

Sarah, who was wrapping herself in American National Quidditch team flag that Paul had given her, together with a bunch of CDs from American punk bands she said she wanted to hear, noticed that Cosima had stopped dead in her tracks.

Alison was just straightening back after unwrapping her arms from Helena, who hugged her tightly for her present, a hand-made cap with a Gryffindor lion embroidered on it, and a pair of matching mittens, and looked questioningly at her sister. Helena, on the other hand, looked up from the pendant, a wonderful magical relic that Maggie had sent her, tilting her head to the side.

"I know those colors." She said. "Those are Beauxbatons colors. I had a friend from Beauxbatons one time, he sent me cards like that all the time."

Cosima looked at Helena who was talking, and opened the card. She would have recognized that handwriting anywhere. Her heart was thumping.

"Told you she'd send you a gift, Cos." Sarah said with a wide grin on her face, taking a wrapped present from Helena and letting it rest in her lap.

The dreadlocked Ravenclaw read the note, not listening to any of them. Alison tried to look nonchalant as she opened the last of her presents, and put it aside, but she kept glancing over at her sister.

"I found something you might like. I remember you talking about it. Joyeux Noël, Cosima. See you soon." She read the words out loud, and then looked up at her sisters, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"You bought _her _a present, yeah?" Sarah asked, grinning.

"I did, a while ago. But… I didn't think she would get me one after… after…" Cosima shook her head, and fumbled around the wrapping paper, looking down at the book. The covers were similar as those of _Hogwarts: A History book_, but the Beauxbatons crest was drawn on it, and French words shimmered in the morning light. Cosima opened the first page, and saw yet another note from Delphine.

_I know you always wanted to know more about my school. I will help you translate and read the book, I could not find it in English. D._

Before she could read it out loud, Cosima could hear Helena's gasp and she looked down at the wrapped paper once again. A small, winged horse, tiny enough to fit in her palm, trotted on the cover of the book and looked up at her.

"What is that?" Felix exclaimed, causing the small horse to jump a little bit, but then neighed, holding his tiny, silver head up high.

"It's a horse from Beauxbatons. I heard about these." Cosima said, looking at the small enchanted animal strut itself across the floor, to everyone's amazement. "They pull the carriages, just like our Thestrals, and many gigantic ones pulled the carriage in which Beauxbatons students arrived at the Triwizard Torunament that year when… Voldemort returned." None of them winced at the name, since the time when his name was feared was long gone. "This is obviously just an enchanted object, just like the dragon Harry Potter and the rest of the Champions had at the Triwizard Tournament, and I told Delphine about it months ago, I can't believe she actually remembered this." Cosima placed her hand on the floor, and the winged horse climbed onto her palm and she lifted it up. "It's gorgeous."

Sarah was leaned back on the sofa. "Yeah, you think? I'm sure Delphine doesn't like you at all, Cos." There was a small eyeroll and sarcasm dripping through Sarah's words, but Cosima didn't hear her at all. Her cheeks were hurting from all the smiling without her even realizing it.

They all looked up at Siobhan who cleared her throat. "You know we need to get going if you girls want to get to the Diagon alley, don't you?" She was smiling down at them. They never noticed she put the breakfast on the table and waited for them until they opened them.

"Yeah. Yeah." Sarah said, watching Alison and Cosima standing up, and she almost forgot about the wrapped gift in her lap.

"Sestra, open it." Helena reminded her, and Sarah tore the paper off, throwing it at the big pile of others.

"What is t-" But before she could finish the question, she screamed, jumping away from the book who she could have sworn saw biting at her. All of them stopped in their tracks to see what was going on, and the book set off after Sarah, baring its teeth and snapping them at her ankles. Helena was laughing as she tried to catch it, and Cosima sat down, holding her stomach as she laughed too. Even Alison was amused as the punk ran for the stairs, but before she reached them, there was a loud crack and the book was floating in the air, enchanted by Mrs. S.

"The Monster's Book of Monsters." Her foster mother said, getting a hold of it and rubbing its rim, causing it to shudder and fall open in her hands.

"Hagrid gave me two, sestra. I got one for you. He said it was a good Magical Creatures book." Helena said, beaming widely. "It won't hurt you. You just need to do what Siobhan did."

Sarah's glare was slightly bewildered as she looked at all of them. Cosima was wiping the corner of her eyes beneath her glasses as Alison stepped closer to examine the book.

"Yeah, no, thanks." Sarah stepped sideways, not looking away from the book. "I don't want the thing to eat me in my sleep."

Cosima looked at her. "Hagrid actually used those books in classes before, Sarah. In third year. They're alright, as long as you're gentle towards them."

Helena nodded, taking the book from Siobhan's hands and looked at it lovingly. "It just needs some love, Sarah. And it is very good to you. Has interesting information."

Sarah sat down, inching away a little bit. "Yeah… thanks Helena. Just… put it on the table, yeah? I'll take a look at it later." She said, blatantly lying. There was no way she would get anywhere near that book, ever.

—

The rest of the Christmas day passed in a pleasant mood for everyone. They had arrived at Diagon Alley a little bit before the noon, using the Floo powder, Sarah's favorite method of travel. Alison was always a little bit scared, and she went with Sarah, clutching her hand tightly, while Cosima and Helena went after them, followed by Mrs. S and Felix. They ended up at Flourish and Blotts, the magical bookstore in which Mrs. S worked, and both Cosima and Alison flew to the shelves on which piles of books that were on Christmas sale were stacked.

Helena and Sarah, on the other hand, walked across the street to the Magical Menagerie, so Sarah could get Helena her Christmas present, a cat of her own choice, and the Gryffindor was chuckling as Helena's curls flew all over the place as she hugged her tightly in gratitude.

"It's only fair I got you something with teeth in return too, yeah?" Sarah grinned as she returned the hug, and paid for a completely white kitten who found Helena before Helena could even pick among all of the animals that were crowding the store. They left after paying, and Helena was cradling the kitten in her arms as they met Alison and Cosima in the middle of the street. Diagon Alley was crowded, and they saw several of their school mates with or without their parents, looking at new things or things on sale in different windows.

Mrs. S had gone to Gringotts with Felix to deposit money, and the sisters were looking at the Christmas decorations. Cosima was hopping in the spot excitedly, always happy to be at the Diagon Alley, since she, growing up as a Muggle child, never saw anything quite like it.

Soon enough they were going in and out all of their favorite shops, including Eeylops Owls Emporium, where Cosima bought a tonic for her owl, Newton, to get his feathers a little bit fluffier, then they went to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, where they spent a good hour picking out best new pranking tricks, with the help of the owner, George Weasley and his son Fred. Afterward they made a stop at Amanuensis Quills to get new supplies they would need for O.W.L.s, and they even entered Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions, since Alison heard a lot about it from her Slytherin colleagues.

"You don't even have problems with your skin, Alison." Sarah grumbled as she dragged them across huge lines of shelves.

"You never know, Sarah. Better safe and sorry." She replied, and, with several bottles that claimed to be against acne and other skin problems, they exited the shop and met up with Mrs. S and Felix. The sun was setting slowly by the time they made their way to the Quality Quidditch Supplies so Sarah would pick up the new Quidditch book Paul told her about, and had to live through their sisters' teasing about being completely hooked on the hot Quidditch captain.

Soon enough they were back at Flourish and Blotts, and they glanced at the Diagon Alley one more time as all the wonderful lights lit up after the dusk had set upon London.

"I can't believe we won't be back here until August." Cosima said sadly, clutching the numerous books she bought.

"At least we won't be as stressed." Alison murmured, eyeing the Flu Powder carefully. "We already will have gotten our O.W.L.s results, and we will be looking forward to the sixth year."

Sarah nodded. "Can we not talk about the bloody exams, yeah?" She looked over at Siobhan who was talking to one of her co-workers and luckily did not hear her curse.

"And I will be going shopping with you!" Felix said, his little face lighting up with excitement. "I can't wait to see Hogwarts finally!" He jumped in the place, holding Helena's kitten in his arms while she was sorting the things she bought in her bags.

"It's five stars, Fe." Sarah joked, ruffling his hair. "I hope you'll get to be in Gryffindor with me and Helena."

"Or in Ravenclaw with me. " Cosima grinned widely.

"Or in Slytherin. We have the best common room." Alison chimed in, watching Siobhan taking the Floo powder. She and Felix would go first this time.

"Ready, chicken?" Siobhan called for the boy, and he stepped in the fireplace next to her, waving to his sisters before disappearing into the green flames.

"Let's go, let's go." Sarah grinned, ushering Helena and Cosima once the green flames disappeared.

"Yes, we need to pack." Alison said, smiling. "We have a train to catch in the morning."

"Yep. Hogwarts, here we come!" Cosima said, grinning, her stomach tying in a knot as she thought about seeing Delphine again.

A second later, the second round of flames swallowed the twins, leaving Alison and Sarah behind. The Slytherin girl was rocking herself back and forth in the spot, and her sister thought it was just her nerves from having to travel with Floo powder. She beckoned Alison to get in, and she took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

There was a moment of pause as Sarah grabbed the fistful of the Floo powder. Alison bit her lip and cleared her throat, but finally decided to speak. She, after all, needed to confide in someone, and she felt herself closer to Sarah more than anyone else, despite the fact that they were fighting all the time, more or less.

"Sarah?" Alison asked quietly, looking over at the slightly taller twin.

"Yeah?" Sarah's eyes met her sister's.

"I need to talk to you about something."


	8. Chapter 8

_Focus, Sarah._

The list of dates written in the book in front of her were just getting blurred into one, and Sarah felt her head nodding away, even though she tried hard to stay awake. The Gryffindor common room was warm, and the wood was crackling in the fireplace even though it was the end of April. The wind was blowing outside, she could hear it through the window cracks, and one glance at her watch let her know that it was ten minutes past midnight.

Her mind was completely unable to concentrate on the Goblin riots in the eighteenth century, and the number of details the book contained was too big for Sarah to even contemplate memorizing it all. She was certain that not even Professor Binns knew everything, but then again, he continued lecturing even after his own death, so everything was possible. Huffing with frustration, the Gryffindor flipped over the page and glanced down at her notes, before looking up at the armchair on the opposite side of her.

Paul was sitting there, his papers scattered everywhere, and a vein on his forehead threatening to burst from concentrating too hard. They had it coming, both of them, from fooling around too much the whole year instead of studying for O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s as religiously as Cosima and Alison did. She rolled her eyes at the thought of her Slytherin twin telling her to get to studying hard from the first day back at September. And now, with less than two weeks away from the exam, she felt pinned to the wall, yet unable to concentrate on studying.

Paul felt the stare she was giving him across the room, looked up from his papers and gave her one of his wide grins that made her weak in the knees. The rest of the common room was empty, and all of the students, even fifth years, had gone to bed since they had classes in the morning.

"I'm going bloody insane." Sarah snapped, rubbing her eyes and pressing her knuckles against her eyeballs to lessen the burning sensation. "I'm gonna fail everything and be Filch's assistant, yeah?"

Her grumble made Paul chuckle and he put his own notes aside, beckoning her to come to him.

"You're gonna kick ass Sarah, you only have History and Astronomy left, right?" His head raised up as soon as Sarah climbed onto his lap, straddling him and wrapping arms around his neck. She nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. But bloody Alison and Cosima only have revising to do, and even Helena is more prepared than I am, because she asked for Cos' help last month. I'm screwed." There was a soft exhale from her lips before she leaned her forehead against his, and closed her eyes upon feeling Paul's hand brushing up and down her back comfortingly.

"You're gonna be fine, babe. Trust me." Paul reassured, kissing her once before getting up and picking her up with him, causing Sarah, the punk, badass Sarah, to let out a sound close between a squeal and laugh. "And now you should go to bed, unless you want McGonagall to give you hell in the morning, okay?"

Sarah nodded, cupping his face with her hands once he put her down on the floor. "Thank you, Dierden." She smirked up at him, trying to cover the giggle she had let out just a few moments previously, and pressed her lips against his one more time. "See you in the morning, yeah?"

Paul kissed her cheek and forehead before he picked up his own books, and wished her goodnight, but Sarah returned to the armchair and sunk into it, slouching and looking in the fire. Her head should have been buzzing with all the information she had forced in her head by reading History, but, out of nowhere, her mind drifted away to a million other things, one of them being Alison's shitstorm with Beth.

She had been thinking about the talk they had four months previously, and it was embedded in her brain as something that might have or might not have happened, since there was no mention of it ever since.

_-I don't know what I'm going to do, Sarah. I don't understand why this is happening to me._

It was a talk they had the last night at Mrs. S' house before returning to Hogwarts the following morning, after Cosima and Helena had fallen asleep.

_-Bloody Merlin, Alison, you say it like it's some kind of a disease. What would Cosima say at your words? She wouldn't be that thrilled, would she?_

_-I know, that's why I waited to talk to you only. I can't have feelings for Elizabeth. I like boys. I'm only fifteen but I want to have a husband and a large house and kids, and live in the suburbs._

The words made Sarah roll her eyes in the darkness.

_-You never know. Yeah? Look, if you have feelings for Beth, it's natural. All of us noticed the thing between you two._

_-Excuse me. What thing?_

_-Call it whatever you want, Alison, but you like each other, and nothing you do will make it go away. So might as well talk to Beth and figure it out. Alright?_

_-No, I'm afraid I can't do that, Sarah. I'm not a lesbian._

_-Fine. Do what you want. Just don't get me in the middle of things, yeah? Whatever you do, I'm with you. Good night._

_-Thank you. Night._

The Gryffindor snapped her head up as she realized she was dozing off again, and she stretched in the armchair, lifting her legs up on the table, groaning. Only fifteen more minutes of studying. Then bed. But then, as soon as she had gotten to the second page, her mind travelled again.

Paul's face emerged in her mind, and how he lifted her up and held her tightly when they saw each other upon their return to Hogwarts. She remembered the warmth of his body and the way he twirled her around, and the sound of Cosima's laughter as he did so. Everything was looking up for all of her sisters, even Helena, who had run off to show her kitten to Maggie as soon as they had arrived at the castle.

She remembered Cosima and Delphine facing each other for the first time, and the way they looked at each other shyly, blushing here and there, and Sarah patting Delphine on the back and wishing her a welcome stay at Hogwarts as a Ravenclaw. Cosima's excited words after the lunch still rang in her ears.

-_Sarah, she totally told me she loved my present and that she missed me!_

_-I told you Cos, didn't I?_

_-I know but, oh my god, how do I even sleep with her in the same room without telling her-_

_-Have you talked about the kiss?_

_-No, are you crazy? No! No. No way. It will take me a lot of courage to even bring up something like that again, but at least we'll get to study together. The opportunity has to show itself somewhere, right?_

_-Yeah, Cos, just don't make me write her a bloody letter for you, because I'm honestly full of your and Alison's shite._

_-Alison?_

_-Don't ask. Just… go about your business, yeah? I have enough of shit to deal on my own._

Then she remembered the first fight she, Helena and Cosima witnessed in the Great Hall, between the poor Hufflepuff and Alison. They were yelling at each other about something, and refused to speak to each other for at least a month afterward. Then Beth eventually came around and wanted Alison to talk to her, but the latter refused. Sarah always stared at the floor when Cosima was discussing the matter with Delphine and Paul, knowing that the reason behind it was Alison's questioning her own sexuality, and she, Sarah, hated the whole situation.

Then, her mind jumped down another memory lane again.

_-Sarah, can we please talk?_

Many times during the previous four months, the Gryffindor wondered when the hell she became a relationship expert.

-_What's up, Childs?_

_-Do you know what the hell's up with Alison? She's been acting weird since the holidays._

_-Yeah, I noticed. Sorry Beth, I've no bloody idea._

Sarah hated lying, but she hated giving out her sister's secrets even more.

_-I miss her, I really do, Sarah. I don't understand. If she tells you something, will you please just give me a heads up?_

_-Sure, Beth. I'll try talking to her next time we have lunch together, yeah?_

But the opportunity rarely showed itself. Over the course of months, the sisters barely had time to do anything but to study. Sarah herself was either hanging out with Paul, or studying in the library or the common room. Beth would join her at lunch every time when Cosima and Delphine were not around, and Sarah had caught Alison from the corner of the eye, hiding from both her and Beth, and for the sake of her sister, Sarah never said anything, but pretended to focus over her notes.

The Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in the first week of March wasn't any better. Alison, who usually loved Quidditch, did not show, under the excuse of studying and not having her house play anyway, and Sarah could see how it all affected Beth. The Hufflepuff did go about studying and eating lunch with both Paul and herself, but was mostly silent, except when she talked about Quidditch and the upcoming match with Paul. Sarah could see the way her expression changed every time Cosima popped in to say she spotted Alison studying in the library late at night, but that was all any of them saw of their sister lately.

February, March, and half of April passed in almost a daze, and before Sarah knew it, she was way too occupied with her own studying to pay attention to Beth and Alison's drama, and she felt grateful to Cosima who did not come to talk to her about Delphine or any of the exams. Even Helena, who was usually at Sarah's side, was now almost always walking around with a book, her kitten, Tomas, hanging about her shoulder.

—-

"Sestra! Sestra wake up, it is breakfast time!"

The thick accent of her twin snapped Sarah out of the deep slumber she was in, her eyes wide open and falling on the fireplace, then out of the window. The fire was long time out, and the light of a warm spring morning coming through the window hurt her eyes. She did not remember when she fell asleep, and when her memories turned to bad dreams about storms and large dragons chasing her all the way from the upcoming exams. The back of her neck was sore after sleeping all night in the sitting position, and now she looked up at Helena.

"Sestra, did you sleep all night here?" The curly-haired twin inquired, looking down at her with those huge eyes of her.

"Yeah, I did." Sarah groaned, rubbing the back of her neck. "Shit, what time is it?"

But before she could look at her watch, Helena informed her that she still had about twenty minutes until breakfast, and then Transfiguration classes later.

Grumbling, Sarah looked outside once more before getting to her feet that were seriously cramping now, and headed to the dormitory to change and brush her teeth in the small basin next to the window. With a smile, she realized that Helena was waiting for her on one of the sofas, and the two of them descended to numerous flights of moving staircase.

"How is studying going, Sarah?" Her twin asked her, holding her upper arm as she usually did when they walked together.

"Very good Helena, though I'm bloody tired all the time, how about you?"

"Not bad. We can revise together one week before the exams, yes?"

"Yeah, Helena, we can do that." Sarah gave her a smile and even chuckled when Helena nudged her. She did not know how, but this was the year when Helena finally managed to move herself away from Sarah's constant presence, made herself more independent, and that is what made Sarah love her sister even more. They always had a bond stronger than the rest of them, Helena always used to say that, and the mere thought about it made the punk smile. With Helena, there was no drama, and the drama was the last thing Sarah needed that close to O.W.L.s. Sadly, the moment she walked into the Great Hall, she knew that something like that would be near impossible to ask for.

Beth was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, which was the closest to the door, and Sarah had immediately noticed that she was crying. Rolling her eyes and with a curse under her breath, she told Helena to go and try to find any of her sisters, and Helena, glancing towards Beth once, nodded and walked over to the Gryffindor table. Sarah, without waiting for invitation, plopped herself on the spot besides Beth. The brunette, as soon as she noticed her, wiped her tears off and wished her a good morning.

"All right, Childs?" Sarah asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question.

"It's nothing, Sarah. I just don't feel okay." Beth replied defensively, clearing her throat to hide the whimpering behind her voice.

"If you want to talk about it, you know I'm here. Yeah?"

"Thanks, Sarah." Beth smiled at her, sniffed one more time, grabbed the bagel and stood up, under the excuse that she had to study before her Charms lesson later that day.

Sarah was left at the Hufflepuff table, banged her fingers against the table top, before standing up and heading over to Helena. Before she could sink her teeth into French toast though, she looked up and almost choked on her food. Almost immediately, she understood Beth crying and Helena pulling lightly on the sleeve of her robe.

Over at the Slytherin table, Alison was sitting leaned over a book and chewing her breakfast, her hair tied up in a ponytail and her face serious and in focus. However, her expression did not stay like that for long, since she looked up at the person sitting next to her, and smiled lovingly at him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

_Fucking Donnie._

It took all of Sarah's restraint not to walk over and punch the wanker straight off the bench, and then kick Alison's arse afterward. Out of all people she could have reaffirmed her sexuality with, she chose the only bloke who treated her like utter shit and acted like a pig in general?

"Sarah, is Alison with-?"

"Yes Helena, she's with Donnie, and I'm gonna kick the living shite out of them both, I swear I'm-"

"Who do I need to help beat up this time?"

The familiar voice made Sarah look up and she saw Paul looking down at her, his shirt showing off his muscles a little bit too much for it to be legal, at least that was Sarah's first thought that she would never say out loud.

"Alison is back with Donnie, apparently." She grumbled after he kissed her and took a seat on the other side of her.

"What?" He said, following the glance of both the sisters, and shook his head. "I'm sorry to have to tell you two this, but I think your sister went crazy from all the studying."

"Yeah, I wish it was that." Sarah said, her face dark as she glared at the pair. The sight of Alison feeding Donnie with bacon made her want to puke. "I think we should go to Transfiguration, Helena, before I curse his arse."

Helena nodded, grabbing the extra two bagels for the road, and she watched her sister kiss the Gryffindor captain before they both stood up.

"I'll catch you later tonight, yeah?" Sarah said to Paul, and he nodded.

"Yes. You need a night off from all the studying."

—-

The day had dragged along pretty slowly, and Sarah was almost relieved when she saw the night falling, which meant the end of a very long day of studying and attending classes. The professors did nothing to reduce the stress of fifth years, telling them how important it was to get as better grades as possible, since their whole future depended on it.

One of the Ravenclaw girls that was with them in Flitwick's class had a panic attack so severe that her two classmates had to get her to Madam Pomfrey to calm her down with one of her charms or potions.

She did smile at hearing over Cosima and Delphine talking about walking outside on the school grounds after the classes, since the weather was nice and it was warm, truly, for the first time that year. The fact that Cosima did not have the courage to ask Delphine properly out or even talk about her feelings annoyed Sarah to some extent, when she had the time to be annoyed, but at least Cosima knew what she wanted and was building up gradually towards it.

When the class was over, she raised two thumbs up toward Cosima who looked at her with her eyes widened, and without any words she knew that that night was the night when the Ravenclaw would try her luck again.

—-

"How was your day?" Paul had asked her when she met him in front of the Great Hall that night.

"It was alright. I overheard Cosima and Delphine, they are having their first date tonight." Sarah grinned at him.

"A date, huh?" He replied, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as they walked out into the grounds. The night had just fallen and first stars have appeared on the dark sky. Sarah would have considered them beautiful, had it not been for the reminiscence of Astronomy exam that was included in the O.W.L.s

"Yeah, yeah, Cos is being smooth and taking her for a walk. Kinda like you." She looked up at Paul, who chuckled, a smug smirk on his face which she so hated once upon a time, and now could not imagine smiling at it each time it appeared on his face.

"I think Cosima has more game than me." He joked as they started their way opposite of the direction of the lake. Many students were already sprawled on the grass there, despite the chilly weather, most of them fifth and seventh years, trying to clear their minds from all of the studying. The fresh air worked well with Sarah too, since she was sick of staring at books and suffocating in the crowded library and the common room.

"Yeah, right. Maybe one day, but she is just a geek now, isn't she?" Sarah scoffed, shaking her head, before she stopped in her tracks and turned to Paul. They were now standing in their usual spot, behind the bushes and away from prying eyes. By the look she shot at him, he knew better than not to press the matter further. When Sarah looked at him like that, there was only one thing he needed to do, and that was wrap his arms around her and kiss her, which she eagerly reciprocated.

Her fingers got tangled in the ends of his short hair, and his arms had been everywhere across Sarah's body, making her lean closer into him, and the fact that they were hidden away saved them all the potential trouble they could get into if one of the professors had seen them.

When Sarah pulled away and let herself stand down from her tiptoes to catch breath, the voices nearby made her freeze a little bit and look at Paul. Paul, on the other hand, squinted his eyes and looked in the darkness. They had seen several students passing by, but none could see them unless they knew what to look for. Soon enough they heard the two who had been leading the conversation, and Sarah recognized the voices immediately, and grinned up and Paul. He spotted them before her though, since he was taller, and she pulled him down on the grass.

Cosima and Delphine were passing by just several feet away from them, and then came to a stop. Paul almost let out a chuckle but Sarah slapped him over the mouth and mouthed an apology, tilting her head to the side to hear them better. For a second, she wished she had Extendable Ears, but at the same time scolded herself for invading Cosima's privacy, knowing she would kick her sister's arse had it been the other way around. However, neither of them moved, and the longer they stayed behind the bushes, their chance for an escape lessened. After a while, they realized that coming out of there would be worst thing they could do since it would mean that both Gryffindors had been listening in all the time while Cosima talked about star constellations to the former Beauxbatons beauty. They remained sitting on the grass, with Paul looking at Sarah and she squeezing his hand every once in a while.

"Tu es very smart, Cosima." They could hear Delphine say, and Cosima's chuckle followed right afterward. Sarah knew that her twin must have been glowing at the moment, and she wished she could see, and not just hear.

"Um, thank you, Delphine." The Ravenclaw hummed, and Sarah could practically _hear_ her grinning smugly. "You're totes smart too, you're from a different country and you're probably going to get Outstanding in all of them."

"Ah oui, peut-être, but you will have great grades as well, I know it."

"Thanks, I hope so. Getting into N.E.W.T.s and later in St. Mungo's or Ministry is pretty tough."

"Je sais, but you will get wherever you want. You are the best student of the generation."

There was a laugh emitting from Cosima, another murmuring of a soft 'thank you', and then silence. Sarah put a hand on her forehead. _Come on Cos. Now or never._

"Hey, Delphine?"

_Holy shite, if Cosima ever finds out about this, I'm dead._

"Oui?"

"I'm, uh, I brought you out here tonight because I wanted us to get some fresh air, obvs, but I wanted to ask you something, too."

"Yes, anything."

Sarah crossed her fingers. She could see Paul suppressing a laugh, and she glared at him to keep it quiet. At this point, if the Ravenclaws found out there was an audience only several feet behind, in the bushes, it would not end well for anybody.

"Remember the, um, the time when you were going to France, and we… and I kissed you?"

Both of the Gryffindors could practically feel the anxiety emitting from the Ravenclaw, in waves.

There was a pause that must have been three times longer for Cosima, than to Paul and Sarah.

"I wanted to talk to you about it for some while now." They could hear Delphine replying finally, and Sarah grinned widely. "But I did not want to mention it to you because you seemed so… so… how to say… distressed, oui. So I kept silent. I have been thinking about it."

Another pause, this time considerably shorter.

"Thinking about it, uh… like, not in a bad way?" Sarah held back the urge to chuck a little rock at Cosima's head.

"Like… I never thought about bisexuality, for myself, you know? But then you came along, and I was not even feeling that bad for breaking up with Aldous, and you were there every day, and I felt really… bad, for rejecting you in the dormitory, parce que I wanted to kiss you before I left et quand… when you came back from London."

There was another pause, and Sarah thought about how she wanted to see Cosima's face more than anything else in the world. _I bloody told you, Cos._

But no words came after that. There was a slight rustle of the grass which Sarah deciphered as one of them moving to the other, and, what seemed after a century later of hiding in the bushes, the two girl laughed somewhat nervously, until they finally stood up from the place and walked across the grass and towards the castle.

As soon as they were out of the earshot, Paul got up, pulling Sarah with him.

"They're bloody holding hands, aren't they?" She asked no one in particular, grinning widely.

"Well considering that we just listened to them make out for ten minutes, yep, they definitely are."

"Thank Merlin they didn't catch us. Never tell anyone about this, yeah?"

"'Course not, Manning. I don't want my ass cursed by two "most brilliant students of our generation"." Sarah slapped his shoulder when he lowered his arms from the airquotes, and pulled him further into the darkness.

—-

A couple of hours later, she kissed Paul goodbye once they were inside the castle, and she was still running fingers through her hair to make it appear not so bushy, when a hand touched her shoulder, and she turned around, only to see Beth, looking at her with a small smile. _Shite._

"Hey, I just wanted to apologize for this morning. You were a great friend over these past two months, Manning." She tilted her head to the side, holding her books under one hand.

"Don't sweat it, Childs." Sarah grinned back at her, always loving how they called each other by their last names. She had only then realized that Beth was the person she hung around the most, with an exception of Paul, in the past two months.

"And I want to apologize for my moping around for months, now. I was just… in a really bad mood. You stuck with me, so thanks."

"Bloody hell, Beth, you sound like you're dying tomorrow or somethin'."

The Hufflepuff chuckled.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm being grateful over here. Deal with it."

"Alright, well, you're welcome."

They grinned at each other, and Beth took a step backward. "Well, I'm gonna go to the Hufflepuff common room to study a little bit longer. See you tomorrow?"

"Right. Of course." Sarah stepped on the first flight of stairs, and then turned around on her heel to say one more thing to the Hufflepuff. "Oi, Beth?"

She turned around. "Yeah, Sarah?"

"She'll come around, alright? Trust me."

And, leaving the Hufflepuff with her mouth hanging open in shock, Sarah grinned at her and ran through the myriad of students that were heading to their respective houses.


	9. Chapter 9

It was the fourth day in a row that she woke up covered in sweat.

_I am so late for the test._ Those would be her first thoughts. Her eyes would widen and she would look around, her eyes traveling to the window to see that it was the dawn still. The first sun rays appeared on the horizon, over the roof of trees of the Forbidden Forest in the distance. A second later, she would throw herself back in the pillows and sleep for a couple of more hours before the breakfast.

That morning was no different. She sat up, breathing heavily, after having dreamt that all of her O.W.L.s were a failure, and that the formal letter arrived from the Ministry of Magic, saying that there would be no employment for her in any sphere of a magical world. Her heart was thumping wildly as it took her several moments to realize it was nothing but a bad dream. Still, the Ravenclaw was a little bit disoriented, and wondered for a moment or two what day is it and whether there would be any tests that very day.

"Bad dream again, chérie?" A voice beside her whispered, and Cosima looked down to see a pair of beautiful hazel eyes looking up at her sleepily. Then it slowly started coming back to her. It was a Saturday morning, and all of the O.W.L.s have been finished since Tuesday, even though the stress obviously had not subsided. All of the fifth years were on the verge of their nerves, but none of them had Delphine to soothe them in the early hours of the day. The Ravenclaw smiled, rubbing her eyes and reaching out to move the blonde curl away from her girlfriend's face.

"Yeah. This time I wasn't late, but failed all of them." She chuckled, then leaned back on the pillows, wrapping one arm around Delphine who scooted closer and kissed her cheek, before resting her head on Cosima's shoulder. The brunette exhaled contentedly, brushing her thumb over the fabric of Delphine's pajamas. The recollection of the previous night was now fully forming in her mind. They were reading the History of Beauxbatons last night, or rather, Delphine was reading and translating it to Cosima, and both of them fell asleep cuddling in Cosima's bed. Ever since the O.W.L.s finished, they had this little tradition of sleeping in the same bed with their arms wrapped around each other. The Ravenclaw did not recall any period in her life that was happier than this one, except when she got accepted to Hogwarts and found out she had sisters.

"You know that is not going to happen Cosima." She could hear Delphine murmur sleepily as she snuggled closer into her petite body, making the brunette grin as she stared at the ceiling.

"I know. I know." Her mouth stretched in a big yawn, and she looked over at the clock on her bedside table. It was five minutes past six. The remaining two girls in their dormitory were sleeping soundly, judging by their steady breathing, and soon enough Cosima felt soothed enough to fall back to sleep herself.

"I'm looking forward to the Quidditch match tonight. It's going to be awesome." She whispered, her fingers threading through Delphine's blonde hair. There was no response.

"Delphine?" She whispered, shifting her body to make herself more comfortable, but trying not to disturb the French girl who leaned half of her weight on Cosima.

"Bonne nuit." Delphine replied in a soft murmur, clutching the front of Cosima's shirt lightly, and the brunette remembered that it did not take a lot for her to fall asleep at all, especially this early in the morning. Smiling to herself, Cosima buried her face into the blonde hair, feeling the sleep overcoming her once more.

—

"Wake up, lovebirds. Breakfast time!"

The voice was coming from somewhere far away, and Cosima kept her eyes tightly shut, grumbling and refusing to budge. The bed seemed softer than a cloud, and she could feel Delphine's scent all over her. Getting up meant losing both, and the Ravenclaw preferred the first alternative.

It took her a second to realize that half of the body, on which Delphine was sleeping, was completely numb, until the blonde shifted a little bit, also woken up by the voice of their Ravenclaw friend Kate. Another groan, that was about to emit from Cosima's lips, was silenced by the feeling of a thumb tracing across her jaw, and her eyes opened at once. She could see nothing but Delphine's smiling face, a little bit too close for her to concentrate on anything else.

"Hey. Morning." Cosima murmured, smiling against the lips that suddenly met her own. There was not a better way of waking up in the world, the brunette thought as her hands cupped the side of Delphine's face, returning the soft kiss and sighing once it ended.

"You did hear Kate, non? I do not want you to starve again." Delphine whispered, but seemed as reluctant as Cosima to get out of the bed and go outside where they could not be alone wherever they would go, since the students spent most of their weekends relaxing now.

"Yeah, but I feel like I didn't sleep at all, especially after that dream this morning."

Delphine laughed. There was not a better sound in the world.

"I know, Cosima, but I think I heard you say that you are excited for the match?"

The Ravenclaw grimaced. "Oh so you did hear me, huh?"

She could not get enough of Delphine's smile, especially the kind that was gracing her lips at that very moment.

"Oui, but I knew that we would not get any sleep if we continued to talk."

"Brat." Cosima snapped playfully. Delphine laughed, giving her another peck on the lips.

"You know _I_ am the only one allowed to call _you_, non?"

Despite Cosima's protests, the blonde stood up after kissing her again, and stretched in the bed before walking over to her own. The brunette's eyes followed her, taking in every single movement she made, knowing that she would never get tired of the sight.

"Today Hufflepuff plays against Slytherin?" Cosima could hear Delphine ask, and she hummed in response.

"Slytherin won against us barely, and Gryffindors killed them. And since Gryffindors barely won against Hufflepuff, and since we almost beat Gryffindor, it kinda all depends on today's match. So, if Hufflepuff wins, Gryffindor will win the cup since they have the most points now. But if Slytherin destroys them, they are gonna win." Her hands flew in all directions as she spoke, even though she was lying down, but the expression on Delphine's face made her thing that she was talking too fast again. "Am I like, making any sense?"

The French girl nodded, her lips pulling out into a wide smile as she tied her hair back. "Yes. I am smiling because you are so cute when you explain. So passionate."

The compliment made Cosima's cheeks flush and a goofy grin appeared on her face. "Thank you Delphine."

—

The Great Hall was almost packed when the two Ravenclaws entered, and the students were chattering away happily, satisfied that the exams were over and that their last Saturday in Hogwarts was going to be celebrated with the last Quidditch match of the school year. Within ten days' time, they would all be on Hogwarts Express, heading home. Cosima was not too thrilled for the summer break, since it meant being an ocean away from Delphine, but they agreed on meeting at Mrs. S' house in August, just around the time when their O.W.L.s results would come in. Still, the thought of being without Delphine in San Francisco for a month and a half seemed a little bit excessive, but since their parents were Muggles, Skype was a known thing that they would undoubtedly use.

The two of them did not even manage to reach the Ravenclaw table when they heard Alison's voice calling for them. Cosima and Delphine both waved at the Slytherin, who then beckoned them to come and sit with her. The brunette sighed, since at the same time she looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Sarah sitting with Helena, Paul and Beth. The four of them were laughing about something, and did not notice her or Delphine come in.

Ever since Alison had gotten back with Donnie, and decided not to speak with Beth again, all of them usually split in two groups during lunches or study times. When Helena, Sarah and Paul sat with Alison and Donnie, Delphine and Cosima kept Beth company, and vice versa. Even though the Ravenclaws did not know what exactly was happening, since Sarah and Alison refused to talk about it, they assumed that the thing fell apart when Alison decided to get back with her ex-boyfriend. Cosima understood nothing about that either, since she could see that her sister avoided being alone with him at all costs, and at the same time she kissed and hugged him whenever Beth was nearby.

"Dammit, why can't we just all sit together like before?" She muttered to Delphine, who squeezed her hand lightly.

"It will be okay, Cosima. They will make amends." Delphine replied in an equally low tone, even though nobody could technically hear them over the clinking of plates and glasses.

"I hope so, because I swear I'm not going to sit in a separate booth on the train to London."

She wished all of her sisters would just sit back together, and all of them would be happy that their O.W.L.s are over, and laugh at Paul and Beth who always made jokes about who would win the last match, since this was the first time in a year they faced each other on the Quidditch pitch. However, since the thing broke between Alison and Beth, the Hufflepuff girl did not look all too cheerful, and every time Cosima would see her she seemed pale and exhausted.

It was true all of them were exhausted by the time the testing was done, but it had been four days now, and everyone was more or less back to their old selves, but Beth looked worse every day. Cosima recalled her own talk with Sarah about it two days previously, and she remember her saying that Beth was only too tired and unwilling to talk about her problems.

The Ravenclaw had to push her thoughts aside as she and Delphine sat down on the opposite side of the table, across Donnie and Alison. He did not seem all too happy that they had company, but the expression of gratitude washed over her sister's face as she bid them good morning.

"You're not missing today's match, are you?" Cosima asked once she picked what she would eat for breakfast, and adjusted her glasses on her nose. Alison nodded.

"Of course not. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Donnie grinned, and Cosima wanted to throw a cup at his smug face. "We're going to destroy Hufflepuff. They have no chance against us. Aldous is an awesome Seeker, and honestly, Hufflepuff's Chasers are kind of a joke."

Cosima could feel the anger oozing from Alison, and when she looked at her, her face was scarlet red. Beth was one of the three Chasers on the Hufflepuff team, and the Ravenclaw could see that her sister wanted to say something, but she held back. Cosima's own insides were yanking at the mention of Leekie, but Delphine had stroked the back of her clutched fist, as if she could read her mind, and soon enough she relaxed again.

"Hufflepuffs aren't too bad. Gryffindors barely beat them and our team was a joke against them." Cosima said, looking over at Alison who stared at the plate and ate, pretending not to be listening to the conversation at all.

"No offense, Cosima, but your team is a joke in general."

That hit her nerve.

"Right, that's why you won against us only by twenty points." She snapped. This time, Delphine's soothing touch did not help. She hated Donnie for being a dick to her sister and to everything else, and ever since he came back into their lives, it had all gone to hell.

"But we still won." He grinned cockily and drank his juice, burping loudly after having done so. Alison flinched, but said nothing. Her hand did fly to toy with her hair, a sign that she was on the edge, and Cosima wished she would snap at him already, but no such thing happened.

"I'm sorry, Ali." She finally said, getting her plate and getting up. "But Sarah needed me for something so I'm going to finish my breakfast over there. You're totes welcome to join."

Delphine took her own plate, shooting an apologetic look towards the Slytherin.

Alison stared up at them, with what Cosima considered to be a feigned blank expression, and blinked twice. "No, no. It's okay. You go ahead then. I will see you at the game."

Cosima turned on her heel, and by the time she plopped herself next to Beth, she was fuming.

"Donnie's a dick." She said, having said good morning to her sisters, Paul and Beth.

"Yeah, no shit." Sarah barked, looking up at two Ravenclaws and giving a slight nod to Delphine who greeted all of them.

"I really don't know what Alison's doing with him, it just doesn't add up to-"

But Sarah interrupted her with a suggestive clearing of the throat, and a nonchalant look over at Beth, who had barely touched her breakfast, and sat there, looking like she was about to faint any second.

"Let's not talk about them, yeah?" Sarah said slowly, and Cosima nodded.

"Beth, you okay?"

The Hufflepuff looked up and smiled half-heartedly at the brunette.

"Yes, thanks Cosima. I'm just so exhausted and I have no appetite. Must be the nerves for the game."

Sarah coughed, and it was completely unnecessary. Cosima wasn't blind. She noticed how Beth glanced over at the Slytherin table, and she had the urge to hug the Hufflepuff, but didn't want to add up to the stress. Besides, Beth looked like she would cry every second, and she didn't want to do that to her, not there.

"You sure you're not sick?" She finally asked, tilting her head to the side and smacking her lips lightly when Beth shook her head, then shrugged.

"I'm not… or maybe I am. Who knows? I just want it to be done today so I can finally get some sleep." Beth exhaled, then attempted another smile. "It's a great pressure on us Hufflepuffs. We need to win and bring Gryffindors their House Cup." She paused, looking over at Paul. "You can't do anything without me, Dierden."

The joke and the laugh that left Beth could have fooled Cosima, but the look on Sarah's face reassured her once again. As Paul started teasing Beth, and the two of them laughed, Cosima's widened eyes pinned herself to Sarah, and Sarah returned the stare with pursed lips.

_Later. _She mouthed, and Cosima nodded, joining in on the joke. After that moment, the breakfast seemed a bit livelier, and they ate their food through laughter and predictions about the game.

—

The morning and early afternoon dragged out slowly, and all of them together, except Alison and Donnie, spent their day by the lake, talking about the O.W.L.s, and asking Paul questions regarding the N.E.W.T.s he took in the same week as they did their tests. They laughed about how stressed they all were, and the fact that Helena almost set Sarah's hair on fire while they practiced together. Sarah retaliated by accidentally turning Tomas, Helena's cat, into a teacup, and the chaos that ensued afterward. They were all laughing, including Helena too, who had been happy once Tomas was his old self again, and now chased butterflies in the grass while the six of them relaxed under one of the large trees.

Beth was also looking a little bit better after having caught fresh air, but Cosima could not help but notice how her skin was still very pale and the color around her eyes darker than usual. Still, they had such a good time, and when the time for the game came, Beth left them first, since she needed to change before the match. The rest of them headed to the pitch, save for Helena, who went to find Maggie first, but then rejoined them just before the game started.

Helena and Maggie were not the only ones who joined them right before the start of the game. To Sarah's great disappointment, and Cosima's as well, Donnie and Alison came to sit next to Maggie, who sat next to Helena. Cosima and Delphine were sitting in the middle, and on their right side were Sarah and Paul. All of them wore Hufflepuff colors, in support for Beth, except from Maggie, Donnie and Alison, while Helena, as always, wore a little bit of both since she never wanted to choose a side between her sisters.

Once the announcer's magically magnified voice crashed over the Quidditch pitch, the players of both teams started flying out on the field, to the great cheers and applause from the whole stadium. All of the Gryffindors were cheering for the victory of Hufflepuff, since it would bring them the House Cup, and Cosima laughed at Paul who seemed on edge more than anyone else. Even though he wore a Hufflepuff badge, the rest of his clothes were still scarlet and gold, so that he could accept the Cup once the Hufflepuffs won.

Cosima's eyes glued themselves to Beth once she flew out on her broom, and she could see her beam widely, even though she looked even more exhausted in the full sunlight of the late May. The summer had already arrived, and all of them had gotten rid of their winter coats and long sleeves. The special eye candy was Delphine, who brought out her Beauxbatons side with light, silky-looking clothing that made Cosima's heart skip several beats every time she would look at her.

However, all of their attention was now shifted on the game, and every now and then people would shout and boo, depending on who owned the ball and who scored points for their own team. After the first hour, the Hufflepuffs were leading, and Beth was a beast, in Sarah's words. Despite being drained, emotionally as well as physically, she seemed to be leaving all of that behind on the Quidditch pitch, and she was the Chaser who scored the most points for the team.

"You told me you were gonna tell me about her." Cosima told Sarah when they sat down after having jumped up and down when Beth scored yet another ten points for Hufflepuff.

"Isn't it bloody obvious, Cos? Alison being with Donnie is killing her. Poor girl is in love, and the worse thing is that Alison feels the same, but she denies it."

"What?!" Cosima yelled, trying to yell over a loud groan from the Slytherin part of the stadium when Leekie was almost thrown off his broom by one of the Bludgers, making him lose the sight of the Snitch.

"Why do you reckon Alison returned to Donnie, Cos?" Sarah yelled back, and Cosima exhaled loudly, finally understanding. Now it definitely made sense.

"We should talk to her, Sarah." She said, before jumping up to cheer Beth who scored more points, though her hand slipped from the broom and she had to maneuver her way around the goal posts not to hit them.

"Alright." Sarah said, and opened her mouth to say something else, but the collective gasp of the stadium turned their attention to the game once again.

Two of the Seekers now spotted the Snitch and were rushing to it. Even though Hufflepuffs were considerably in the lead at that very moment, if Leekie caught the Snitch it would all be over. Paul was yelling, and Sarah joined him soon enough.

Even Delphine, who was not that big of a fan of Quidditch, was on her feet, clutching Cosima's forearm so tightly that the brunette was sure that there would be a bruise the following day. Everyone's eyes were on the two Seekers, and they barely heard the announcer say that Hufflepuffs scored two more times. After a while, even the announcer's attention turned to the Seekers, and the Gryffindors yelled at the Beaters to throw Bludgers at Leekie, who had a better broom and was maneuvering through the air with such grace that it made Cosima angry.

"Hit him with a bloody bat!" She could hear Sarah scream over the other voices, but just before the two Seekers headed upward for the snitch, someone screamed so loudly, and in such a way that Cosima's blood froze in her veins. It was not a scream of cheer, but much more dreadful. Only several other people figured out what was going on before everyone realized that the Hufflepuff Seeker was turning around on his broom and rushing in the opposite side of the Snitch, and towards the ground.

"What is he doing?" She could hear many of them yell, but Cosima was, unfortunately, one of the first ones to figure out what had happened. It all played out way too fast, or at least that is how she justified that no one helped her, not even the professors, since all of them were looking at the Snitch and the two Seekers on their brooms to notice what was going on on the other side of the field.

Soon enough, everyone had noticed what had happened, especially since the whole Hufflepuff team was now rushing to the ground. The cheers had turned to shouting and screaming, and they were all directed towards the body that was sprawled out in the grass.

"Shite! Beth, BETH!" She could hear Sarah scream, but she was too frozen to do anything for several moments. People were all standing, but half of the stadium was not moving, and just staring at Professor McGonagall who was running, though more than 100 years old, across the field, her wand raised. The other half were Slytherins who were cheering at Leekie who had caught the Snitch, but soon enough almost all of it died away.

The second years in the row in front of them were crying. Everything was a blur, and it all happened way too fast and slow at the same time for Cosima to figure out what had exactly happened.

Hit with a Bludger, some said. Collapsed from her broom, said the others. But it did not matter. Cosima's eyes snapped up towards Alison's seat, but she was gone. Donnie was sitting there, looking lost, but Alison had disappeared.

Files of students were frozen in their seats, but Sarah was the first of them who moved. Cosima could feel her hand being tugged at, and she followed her sister and Paul, with Delphine at her heels, down to the ground. Once they ran to the grass, they could see McGonagall standing above Beth's body, her mouth moving in a silent chant, and the Hufflepuff team leaning on their brooms and looking down at their team mate, joined by two or three Slytherin players, all pale and grave in the face. There was another person, dressed in silver and green, kneeling beside Beth and holding her hand, features almost unrecognizable, hair messy and cheeks stained with tears.

Alison was crying and calling the name of her best friend, but no response came, since the pale face of Beth Childs was hidden by strands of her dark hair, unmoving.


	10. Chapter 10

Her head was pounding. It was as if thousands of drums have been placed around her head, trying to wake her up. _Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. _Yet, she could not open her eyes, her lids heavy as if someone had enchanted them to stay sewn together forever. Then there was the tiredness, that has been gnawing at her for almost a month, a feeling she could not shake. The not eating did not help either, but all of the food she had tried to consume just fell in her stomach like boulders. So she gave up. It has been going on and on until it all finally caught up with her. And there she was now, her limbs heavy, hurting, unable to move. Yet, by some miracle, she was alive.

Trying to take a deep breath, Beth Childs was surprised to discover that the sharp pain in her chest was gone. Every time she would wake up the past several times, in those first moments of unawareness, she would wonder why she had not been in her four poster bed, and why was everything so bright beyond her eyelids, and then would fall back to sleep, overcome by whatever medicine that they gave her for that intolerable pain. However, this time, when she inhaled, the pain was not as unbearable as the last time. She was not so painfully aware of her ribs anymore, and her fingers were able to move. The light was still bright outside though, and, testing herself, she tried to open her eyes. This time, she succeeded.

The sudden flow of light into her sight made her eyes squint a little, her vision blurred after having slept for what it seemed a year, but once her view sharpened, she could see the source of the bright light. The room almost had no walls, but the endless amount of windows, with drapes pulled to the side so that the sunshine of a summer day could breathe in life into everyone who found themselves in the room.

Beth knew where she was the moment she took in surroundings, even though her head was still pounding, she was there many times, being a Quidditch player. _Quidditch_. Suddenly, the Hufflepuff realized why she was put in the bed in the first place. The memories came back, blowing in her face fully, and her breath hitched in her throat. Alison. Donnie. Lack of sleep. Lack of food. Endless crying in the girls' bathrooms when no one else was around, but the Moaning Myrtle who was crying, always, in the stall next to her own. Then the Bludger that came out of nowhere and her inability to hold on. The sharp pain as she met the ground with full force, and passed out, thinking she was dead. Yet, she was there, lying in the bed, miraculously breathing and blinking, and looking at the ceiling, afraid the pain might come back if she tried to move. And it did. But, it was not the kind of a physical pain, caused by having almost all of her bones broken. It was a sharp pang in her chest, as the picture of Alison and Donnie came back to her, haunting her from the moment the two had gotten back together again. She understood nothing, and did not want to understand. She was in love, but she had lost a friend too. Was she too obvious? Did she say something to scare her away? The question, now over several months old, returned to bite her in the rear once again, and for a moment, Beth wanted to fall asleep again, and not wake up.

The small stir on the bottom of the bed almost made her jump up, and her eyes, for the first time, lowered to see other beds in the Hospital Wing. She half-expected to see Madam Pomfrey attending other sick students, but no one was around. No one, but the figure that was leaned, head on Beth's bed, her face covered by endless amount of brown, long hair. For a second, the Hufflepuff thought of Sarah. The Gryffindor was the best friend she could have imagined in the previous couple of months, and the fact that she was sleeping next to her unconscious self, made Beth smile slightly. Before she called her name though, there was a small detail that she had failed to see at the first glance, and the sight made her stiffen a little.

_The silver and green ribbon._

"Alison?" She called softly, surprised at her own hoarse voice. Only then did she realize how thirsty she was.

The bundle of hair snapped her head up, her eyes widened as she exclaimed something incoherently. The next second, the weight of their whole relationship from the past couple of months caused an awkward silence to pass between the two girls, but the Slytherin seemed to collect herself quickly. Offering Beth one of her kindest smiles, though her eyes were still widened, Alison got up, getting close to her.

"You're awake." She stated, as if not believing her own words. Beth could see, from the close distance, that Alison's eyes have been puffy and dark circles surrounded them, but the way she looked down at her made the pain only sharpen. Why was she here?

"Yeah I am. And thirsty like hell." Beth replied, her attempt at chuckle turning to a small cough because of her dry throat. Alison was already on it, pouring her a big glass and waiting for Beth to scramble and sit up.

"Do you want me to help you?" Alison inquired, sitting close to her now, the glass in her hand within Beth's reach.

"No, I'm good, thanks." And she was. Other than feeling sore in several places where her bones had been broken a couple of times, and now healed probably by Madam Pomfrey's magical healing abilities, Beth had no problems with breathing or moving. She took the glass and drank the contents of it with a satisfied groan. Alison gave her a refill, and then the awkward silence fell between them again. Beth could see that the Slytherin was looking at her nervously, her hand cupping her own neck in a manner it always did when Alison was on edge, and Beth looked back at her, not certain of what to ask, or say.

"How long was I out?" She blurted out finally, after some time, which seemed like hours rather than seconds. Alison winced, as if she tried to wipe out the pictures from her head.

"Couple of days. We all thought you were dead, even though McGonagall said you'd be just fine after she inspected you." Alison paused, and Beth could see that her eyes filled with tears again. "You were all broken Beth, just like a pile of bones and I…" But she could not go any longer. Her face was buried behind her hand, and Beth reached for her knee, squeezing it after Alison did not move away. Even though she was still angry and hurt and could not remove the image of her and Donnie kissing every time she would appear within couple of tenths of feet, Beth could not see Alison cry. She wanted to hug her, but refrained from beckoning her closer.

"Hey, hey Ali, don't cry. I'm alive, and soon to be kicking. Okay?" A smile appeared on her face as Alison sniffed several times and wiped her eyes with her sleeve, nodding. "Speaking of kicking, Slytherin must have kicked our ass, huh?"

Alison chuckled dryly. "We won only by ten points. Not nearly enough to win the Quidditch Cup."

Beth held back a smile, hoping that all of them had a good time celebrating the win. She said nothing, though, except nodding and raising her eyebrows at Alison. "You must be pissed."

Alison's eyes seemed to have pierce her, in that scolding way she had missed so much. The pain in her chest raised again, but it was now comforting somewhat. It was nice talking to her friend, even though the real topic did not come up, at least not yet. "Elizabeth, I don't give an eff about the Cup. I just wanted you to be okay."

Beth smiled, always loving how Alison censored herself, instead of cursing. It was weird, hearing it for a change, since hanging out with Sarah involved anything but censoring the curses.

"And, as you see, I am. I honestly didn't expect you here."

Alison's face suddenly looked like all the color was drained from it. Her gaze dropped on the floor, and she exhaled, her fingers fumbling with the collar of her shirt.

"You know, Beth, I-"

The group of voices interrupted her mid-sentence, as cheers were heard from the entrance door of the Hospital Wing. Both of them looked in the direction of the noise, and saw Sarah, Paul, Cosima and Delphine, beaming widely at them and running over, Sarah pushing aside Alison a bit as she pulled Beth into a bear hug.

"It was a bloody time, Childs! I thought you'd sleep through the End of the Year feast!"

Everyone was giving her hugs, and Beth was chuckling and saying she was fine and that they need not worry, and that she just wanted to sleep for at least a week to be fully recovered, but her eyes often landed on Alison, who squirmed on the bed a little bit, not joining the cheer but seemed lost in thoughts as she glanced outside the window. For the first time in a while, the Hufflepuff wished they would all leave her alone with Alison.

The noise and loud voices drew Madam Pomfrey's attention and she appeared from her office, scolding them for causing ruckus and telling them that Beth needed a lot of rest to be fully recovered until tomorrow night, the last night of their fifth year. They begged her to stay for a little while longer, but she ushered them all out. When Alison stood up to leave too, Madam Pomfrey smiled at her.

"You can stay if you want, Alison dear. You've been here for a week straight, and you should get some rest, but you've kept her company so far. So if you want to stay, be my guest."

Beth's eyes widened at that little piece of information. Alison was there the whole time she was unconscious? At that moment, the Hufflepuff realized that the dream of Alison's voice reading the book about Quidditch to her might not have been a dream after all.

"I would stay", she could hear her say, "but I'm not sure if Beth wants me to."

She glanced over her shoulder at the Hufflepuff, whose eyes met hers in an instant.

"Of course I want to." she said quietly. "Come sit with me."

—-

The night of the feast had been a success for all of them. Happy that the dreaded fifth year was almost over, and that they did not need to worry about O.W.L.s until August, when they results would come, the sisters were in a very high spirit. All four of them, together with Paul, Delphine and Beth, were happy for a little bit of a break, even though the break meant that they would not see each other for some time, varying from a month to two. Cosima and Delphine already made plans that they would meet at Mrs. S' house, after Sarah had told them that they should all gather there around the time when the results would be mailed to them at the end of the summer break. Beth was uncertain if she would be allowed to come to London earlier than planned, but she wanted to do so, even if it meant begging her parents throughout the summer. Being on friendly terms with Alison, and the fact that the Slytherin Prefect broke up with Donnie on the day of Beth's accident, had the Hufflepuff's spirits rise even more.

Sarah was the one who suffered the most, since that was the last day Paul would spend at Hogwarts, as he was finishing his seventh year, and they were spending as much as time as possible together. He had told her he planned to get into one of the British Quidditch teams, just to be closer to her and come visit over the holidays.

"We'll work it out, babe." He kept telling her, and she nodded every time, wondering when in the hell did she get so attached to him in the first place. They had spent most of the last day together, alone, except when they went to visit Beth that morning, just before she was released from the Hospital Wing.

Helena was spending all of her days with Maggie, since she would not see her for several months too, and by the time they had arrived to the feast that night, they were both clutching two large books on Magical creatures that Hagrid gave them. They were chatting about how Hagrid told them that the two of them were his favorite students, which was followed with Sarah's teasing as she said: "Yeah, he finally found someone as nutty for his monsters as you two." She still remembered well that Monster's book of monsters, and honestly hoped that Siobhan burned it by now.

The sisters, together with Paul, Maggie and Delphine were seated together at the Gryffindor table now, not caring that the Gryffindors gave Cosima, Alison Delphine and Maggie weird looks for not being seated at their Houses' tables. When Beth finally appeared through the Great Hall, a great round of cheers was heard from the Hufflepuff table, and her team mates, who had visited her several times when she was unconscious and the day before after she had woken up, now got up to hug her tightly and hoist her up in the air, as the others called her name. Gryffindors were cheering her on as well, since she was the one who brought Hufflepuff so many points and made the Gryffindors champions of the House Cup, and even the Ravenclaws called her, giving her thumbs up as she passed. By the time she was lowered down, Beth was blushing profusely and laughing, hugging back everyone who got up and wish her a happy recovery. The Slytherin table was silent, though, and they pretended not to hear what was going on, even though some still smiled at her as she passed.

Alison could see Donnie sitting there with his arms crossed and huffing to his chin, and she felt sick even thinking that she could have taken him back only to get away from Beth. At the sight of Beth though, her insides squirmed and several jolts were causing her goosebumps as their eyes met.

Even though they spent most of the day before together at the Hospital Wing, neither of them mentioned the fight, or Donnie. They have been reading the Quidditch book and trying out different Bertie Bott's Beans, since Beth got plenty of those, together with cards and flowers with well wishes. Alison could practically hear Sarah's encouraging thoughts, even though her sister was immersed into conversation with Cosima and Delphine. Alison had stolen glances towards the two Ravenclaws several times, and seeing how happy they were when they were holding hands and giving each other soft kisses and giggling about anything and everything, made the Slytherin rethink her statement to Sarah several months before.

_I'm not gay, Sarah. I don't like girls. I will marry a man, and be happy with him, and have a lot of children._

Why did her whole face flame up then, and why did her insides dance once Beth came to sit next to her, and gave her a tight hug? Why couldn't she stop laughing and grinning as Paul teased Beth and Beth teased back, her hands inching towards Alison's as they ate the dinner? Why did her mind become fuzzy and her hairs stood up on the back of her neck when Beth leaned closer to whisper in her ear that she wanted to tell her something after the feast? Why couldn't she concentrate on Gryffindor winning House cup, together with the Quidditch cup, or why didn't she notice that all the colors have become golden and scarlet as the Great Hall erupted with cheers from the table she was sitting at? Had it been any other year, any other occasion, she would have been sulking by the Slytherin table, listening to Donnie complaining about Gryffindors and how they deserved nothing. And now, she did not care. But now, her eyes were set on the beautiful profile of Elizabeth Childs, who hooted and banged the desk together with Paul and the rest of the Gryffindors, celebrating the victory.

When the noise had settled down, mainly because McGonagall stood up and raised her hand to wish them a happy end of the school year, and a happy return home, Alison felt as if she was going to throw up. Cosima, who was sitting on the opposite side of her, and who had heard what Beth said about talking later, squeezed her sister's hand.

"It's going to be okay, Alison."

The Slytherin just glanced over at her sister and her girlfriend, both of them seeming to glow when they looked at each other. _Delphine was straight before Cosima too, wasn't she?_ Her mind inquired as she averted her glance when the former Beauxbatons student placed her hand on Cosima's cheek and pulled her in for another kiss, not to seem like she was staring. _I like Beth_, she mused in her head. _I like Beth, and no matter what happens, I am going to tell her, or I'm going to go insane._

A small tug coming from her right side made her turn around to see Beth looking at her with a wide smile she had not, before those two days, seen in ages.

"Come on." The Hufflepuff murmured, standing up, and Alison followed, glancing over at her sisters and friends.

Sarah and Paul looked up and both gave her thumbs up, Cosima mouthed 'good luck', Delphine winked, and Maggie and Helena smiled at her. _I can do this._ This was a mantra she repeated in her head over and over again, as her heart thudded in her ears and threatened to break her chest as she followed Beth out of the Great Hall.

Most of the students were still at the feast, and the rest of the castle seemed surprisingly quiet, save the several ghosts who were late for the dinner and were now gliding through the walls to join in on the party. When they took a left turn to one of the corridors, Alison felt like she would puke from the excitement. Judging by Beth's pale face, she felt exactly the same.

"Listen Beth-"

"Listen Alison-"

They started at the same time, and laughed, their voices echoing against the stone walls. The Slytherin inhaled, and then motioned her hands towards Beth. "You first. You're the one who called me here, after all."

Beth nodded, looking down at her shoes for a moment before looking up again. Alison could hear her clear her throat several times, wondering what would come up out of her mouth. She probably wanted to address the issue of breaking the friendship code, and the thought of having an argument made her sick, especially since all she wanted to do was kiss Beth, before they were interrupted by Hufflepuff students heading to beds.

"I was very angry with you in these couple of months you know…"

_Here we go. _Alison thought pursing her lips and reaching out for her collar, only to have something to play with.

"… and I really don't understand why, because I don't know what I did wrong, and I wondered about it and it killed me, I couldn't stop thinking about it." Her eyes widened. "Not that I blame you for what happened it's just… I didn't understand the ignoring and yelling at me and…"

Alison couldn't take it any longer.

"Beth." Beth was left there with her mouth open slightly, and she closed them, her eyebrows raising up in curiosity, in a way Alison always loved. She herself opened her mouth, trying to find words to say it properly, but none came to mind. The way Beth's hazel eyes glued to her wiped off all the concentration from her mind.

"I don't want to lose you." She blurted out finally, breath catching in her throat.

"I don't want to lose you either." Beth replied quietly.

In the next second, without remembering the thought or action process, Alison's arms were wrapped tightly around Beth's neck, their lips meeting in a somewhat shy kiss at first, which ended up with Alison being hoisted up in the air a little bit and pressed against the stone wall. The coldness under her back fit perfectly since her body was burning from the way Beth kissed her back, their tongues meeting as if they had years of practice with each other. Her hands were pinning Alison firmly to the wall, and traveled across her torso, and the Slytherin thought that she was going to faint from the intensity of the kiss. She, in return, tangled her hands in Beth's hair, not being able to get over how soft Beth was, or how her scent embedded itself in Alison's brain from the moment they started kissing.

It was Sarah who found them, some half an hour later.

"Oi!" She yelled, causing the two of them to untangle from each other, both breathing heavily and blushing profusely. They both stared angrily at Sarah, who was smirking at them, her eyebrow cocked up a little bit. "Not to interrupt, but the feast is about to be over, so I wanted to be the one who would, eh, come and warn you. You're welcome."

Alison was one step away from yelling back, but she was still far too embarrassed, the tip of her fingers covering her lips that were still burning from Beth's passionate kisses.

"You're going to pay for this, Manning!" Beth yelled after her, but had a wide grin on her face as Sarah walked away, laughing.

The two of them, left alone again, but not for long, looked at each other and laughed breathlessly, before kissing again, this time only briefly.

"See you tomorrow, then?" Alison squeaked, straightening her hair as much as she could. Beth looked as if she had just won the Quidditch cup by herself.

"Yeah. See you." And, with another kiss, she brushed Alison's bangs to the side a little bit, before rushing off to the Hufflepuff common room.

—

The day of travel passed by quickly for all of them, and before they knew it, they were sitting on the Hogwarts Express. Their compartment was a little bit crowded, but they did not want to be separated from each other, since it was their last day of hanging out together before August. Paul was not going to be on the Hogwarts Express in September, yet Sarah was unable to feel down because the new sight of Beth and Alison together made them all amused.

"I knew something was up, I totes knew about you two first." Cosima was laughing, her arm around Delphine who was sitting in her lap and playing with her dreadlocks, nodding. "Oui, Cosima and I knew right away."

"Bollocks." Sarah shot, shaking her head. "It was suspicious from the first moment Alison decided to hang out with a bloody Hufflepuff." She grinned.

Alison shook her head reproachfully, even though she was smiling. The feeling of Beth's arm around her, and the fact that they lived in the same city made her the happiest of the group. "Fine, okay you all knew. Can we just move on already?"

They all laughed, shaking their head. "Never." They all replied in a chorus, causing another set of laughs to erupt from the compartment.

The ride to London was shorter than any of them remembered, and really soon they were getting their luggage and going through the wall on the King's Cross, meeting Mrs. S on the other side of the barrier. Paul had shaken hands with Sarah's foster mother and high-fived Felix, who was beaming widely. He had, only several days previously, received his Hogwarts letter too. The sisters were going to stay, as well as Beth, at Siobhan's house for the night, until they would take a portkey the next day across the ocean. Helena was going to use one too, and Delphine was boarding on another train to France in only several hours.

Sarah hugged Paul tightly, and stole a kiss when her foster mother wasn't looking.

"I will hear from you soon, yeah?" She murmured, keeping her hands on his chest, while his arms were wrapped around her waist.

"Of course." Paul replied. "You should ask Cosima to show you how laptops works. We can Skype then."

Sarah nodded. Being raised in a completely magical family made her completely oblivious to Muggle technology. "I will. Mrs. S told me she bought a laptop for me already."

They said their last goodbyes, and Paul shook all of their hands, hugged Beth, and left to meet one of his uncles that would travel with him back to Canada. Delphine and Cosima were embracing each other for fifteen minutes, before they said their goodbyes. The blonde's eyes were filled with tears as her hand cupped Cosima's cheek.

"Talk to you soon and see you soon, right chérie?"

Cosima kissed her softly. "Obvs. Skype, and August will be here soon."

"I miss you already."

"Me too."

They kissed one more time, before Delphine said bye to all of them, and then headed to find her platform for a train to Paris.

"Ready, love?" Siobhan asked, putting her hand around Sarah's shoulders.

Sarah nodded, looking in the direction of where Paul had left. "Yeah. Let's go."

All of them pushed their luggage with cages of their owls, and Helena's cat, Tomas, was sitting on top of her luggage, mewling at the myriad of people they were passing by.

The sun was setting above London as the sisters, together with Beth, made their way towards Siobhan's car. The heat, which was still emitting from the concrete, brought a promise of a long, fun summer, full of expectations for the next year. Smiling, Sarah looked at Cosima, who met her eye.

"Good year, Cos, yeah?"

The Ravenclaw grinned. "The best."


	11. Epilogue

Cosima woke up suddenly, feeling strangely out of oxygen and feeling a bush of curly, blonde hair all over her face, some of it in her mouth, a consequence of sleeping with her mouth open, nearly choking her.

_What the-?_

"Delphine-" She breathed out, causing the girl next to her to snap her head up.

Cosima was not fully aware as to where they were yet, as she had just woken up from a dream of sleeping in her four poster bed back at Hogwarts, having the ex-Beauxbatons student by her side. Delphine _was _there, of course, but the grumbling from the other side of the room reminded her that she was not in her Ravenclaw dormitory, and the heat that raised in the room brought back the knowledge that it was, in fact, still summer.

"Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé?" The blonde mumbled, still half-asleep. Her head raised slowly. "Oh. I am sorry." She said, pulling her hair back, her bright eyes so close to Cosima's face making her forget all about the dream and focusing on that beauty mark on tip of her nose.

"Nothing, your hair… it was kind of choking me." Cosima let out a small giggle, and Delphine joined a second after.

"Would you two bloody settle down, I'm trying to get some shut eye here, yeah?" Cosima could hear her sister's muffled voice, since Sarah buried herself under the pillows, one of which she threw on the guest bed where Cosima and Delphine were sleeping.

"What is happening?" Helena chimed in sleepily a second after.

"Nothing guys, just go back to sl-" Cosima started, but the door busted wide open, followed by a squeal that made them all sit up suddenly, and Sarah was already pointing her wand at the door.

"They're here, they're here they'refinally here, let'sgo get up!"

"Bloody hell Alison if you do that one more t-"

"Sarah I have no patience for your grumpiness this morning they are here!"

"What are you going on about?"

"O.W.L.s, Sarah! The results! They have arrived! All of them!"

That was the only wake-up call that Cosima needed. By the time Alison finished her sentence, she had already put on her glasses and climbing out of bed, a grin spread widely on her face. Delphine was equally as eager, and Helena rolled out of bed, looking for her socks right under it.

Sarah, however, was still sitting motionlessly, before falling back to the pillows.

"I don't want to see them. I probably bloody flunked them all."

"Oh come on, Sarah, you know that's not true. We all studied really hard and-"

"Thank you for the input, Alison, which I really didn't need-"

"Ravenclaws coming through!" Cosima ran past Alison, dragging Delphine by her hand, and they were stumping down the stairs, murmuring together excitedly.

"Has Beth got her share of heart attack yet?" Sarah asked, stretching, her head turned to Alison who was leaned in the door frame, all but fidgeting impatiently in her spot. Sarah knew that she wanted to wait for all of them to open the letters together, hence waiting for her, and that is why the Gryffindor dragged out getting out of bed as much as possible, knowing that it would annoy the hell out of her sister.

"I am hungry." Helena stated. "I will be downstairs, eating, and waiting for you sestra, yes?"

But before Sarah replied, Alison cut in.

"No, I thought that she was-"

But a loud, sudden snore from the other corner of the room made them both jump up slightly. On the second guest bed, where Alison climbed from in the crack of dawn, too anxious to sleep, there was a heap of covers and pillows, and underneath there was a Hufflepuff sleeping, face buried in pillows, not moved by anything that had happened in the past couple of minutes. Sarah nodded to Helena who passed by Alison and descended the stairs much more quietly than Cosima and Delphine previously had.

"I wish I could sleep as soundly like that." Alison shook her head, but a soft smile was etched on her lips. It was only a week since Beth and herself reunited after the end of the fifth year, and she still felt the warmth spreading from her insides to the tips of her fingers and toes.

Sarah snapped her out of her little daydream though, hitting the sleeping Hufflepuff with a pillow, using all of her strength, which resulted in Beth leaping out of her bed, rather disoriented and clutching onto the pillow the Gryffindor had just hit her with.

"What the hell, man?! That was so not cool." Her eyes were squinting, trying to adjust to the bright light that was coming through the window of Sarah's room, announcing one more beautiful summer day.

"Your _girlfriend _did the same thing to us, blame her." Sarah barked with a smirk, getting in her shorts and shoving Alison out of the way before the latter could protest. "I'll see you two down there, yeah?"

"Sarah Manning, don't you dare read your results before-"

But she was hushed with Sarah's hand which waved dismissively before she disappeared through the door, leaving Alison huffing in slight frustration.

Beth was still rubbing the back of her head, trying to comb her hair with her fingers, but not really succeeding in it. Even though it looked compelling for the Slytherin to just tackle Beth on the bed now that the room was empty, since they barely got any time alone in the full house of Siobhan Sadler, she decided against it, as her impatience for results grew every second.

"Beth, please, let's go." She dragged her to the door and Beth was still too sleepy to object. Alison took her hand, leaving a slight peck on her cheek that still had marks from sleeping on one side for too long, and lead her downstairs.

The spacious living room in which the sisters spent most of their winters and summers in, with an addition to Beth and Delphine now, was covered in owl feathers that nobody bothered to swipe just yet. Sarah's foster mother was cooking tea for all of them, and Felix was standing beside her on his tiptoes, a wide grin spread across his face. The fifth years were not the only ones who had gotten letters that morning – his Hogwarts invitation letter together with the lists of books and other supplies was tightly clutched in his hand as if he was afraid that it might disappear if he put it down for one second.

"Gather around, everyone!" Alison quipped as soon as she stepped into the room, grabbing her letter from the mantelpiece. Cosima was already staring at her own, as if she was expecting it to speak to her..

"So, what, we all do it at once, yeah? I think Cos and Alison might burst if we wait for another minute."

Everyone laughed but Alison, who shot Sarah a reproachful look, feeling her insides turning with nervousness. Beth was sitting on the armrest of the armchair she was settled in, and rubbed her shoulder. Wanting to be a Quidditch player after Hogwarts, she did not bother too much with grades, even though the hype from the other girls brushed off of her a little too.

"Okay", Cosima said, her facial expression uncertain, torn between laughing and crying. "In three, two, one. Go!"

The next couple of moments were only consisted of the sound of ripping paper. Felix rushed over to where Sarah was sitting, leaning over her shoulder to see the results. There was two minutes of silence, disturbed only by Mrs. S who had moved from making tea to breakfast, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips, waiting for the imminent eruption of reactions, which followed almost immediately.

"Yes! Three Acceptables, five Exceeding Expectations and two Outstandings, yeah baby!"

Everyone looked at Beth who was grinning from ear to ear, flapping her parchment around the place, and Mrs S shouted a congratulations. Helena was the second one announcing her own results, with five acceptables, four Exceeding Expectations and an Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures.

Both Cosima and Delphine got all Outstandings from all ten of their exams, and were beaming at each other, and locked lips for couple of moments as a silent congratulations.

Sarah was bouncing in her own seat at two Acceptables, two Poors from Divination and History of Magic that she did not really care about, five EEs and one Outstanding, from Defense Against the Dark Arts. This way she could pursue her Auror career, which made her almost suffocate Felix with a tight hug.

Only Alison was sitting motionless, her lips pursed together.

"Oi, Slytherin, what's up?"

She snapped her head up, gritting her teeth but not speaking. Beth snatched the parchment from her hand and ran over to Mrs. S and out of her reach before Alison could grab it back. They all stared at Beth who started laughing.

"Beth, don't-" She spoke, getting up.

"Wha'? Did she flunk or something?" Sarah propped herself onto her knees, her head sticking out from behind the armchair.

Beth shook her head, holding her sides.

"I swear to Merlin Ali, if one Exceeding Expectation is making you want to cry…"

"I do not understand." Delphine murmured to Cosima, but the Ravenclaw already knew what was up. Alison hated being the second best.

"I'll bet you five Galleons that she got all O's except for Astronomy." Cosima mused, holding back a laugh.

"No bets, "Beth replied, finally regaining her own breath. "Because you're right, Cosima."

All of them glanced at Alison, who was standing in the middle of the room, shifting from one leg to another and fighting back frustrated tears. "I studied that goddamn subject the longest, and she gave me _Exceeding Expectations?!" _She snapped, but before she could add anything else, a wave of laughter echoed throughout the room.

"It's okay, chicken." Mrs S said, putting a hand on her shoulder as she passed by, trying hard not to join the howling coming from her foster daughter. "It doesn't affect your N.E.W.T.s or anything. Hell, I have had three EEs in my own time, and look at me."

"Really?" Alison asked with a pout, looking up at the woman, who returned the gaze with a soft smile.

"Yes. And the rest of you, stop laughing or no dessert tonight."

That silenced them all, though Sarah was still wiping her tears away and stifled back another set of giggles as Mrs. S passed by and smacked her upside the head.

"Besides," Beth chimed in, wrapping arms around Alison from behind and kissing the back of her neck. "You're my smartest half, anyway."

At those words, Alison's expression softened and she laughed too, giving a passing high five to Cosima and sitting down. Over the next half an hour, they all sat closer to each other, exchanging their results papers and commenting on the possible N.E.W.T.s they were going to take. The worst had passed, and the weight that has been sitting on their chest for two month finally lifted. Felix was sitting in Helena's lap, still clutching his own admission letter, and showing her the list, at which Helena started talking about all the different animals he would be able to choose from to buy.

"I will get a black cat," he mused, starting to imagine his first day at Hogwarts, surrounded with all of them, and learning all of the cool spells.

Beth was reclining between Alison's legs, sitting on the floor, and yawned, feeling like she could sleep for another century and a half. "So, what now?" She asked, looking up at Alison, who leaned down to kiss her forehead.

The smell of bacon and eggs filled the house.

"Now, we eat." Helena said, prompting the laughter by all of them as they all stood up, heading for the table.


End file.
